Egypt sentences 24 to death for terrorism

Sixteen blew up a police van in 2015 and eight killed a police officer in a separate incident

Members of Egypt's banned Muslim Brotherhood inside a glass dock during their Cairo trial in 2018. AFP

An Egyptian criminal court on Thursday sentenced 16 people to death for bombing a police van in 2015, killing three officers and wounding 36.

The bombing took place in the city of Rosetta in the Beheira province, about 170 kilometres north-west of Cairo.

Ten of the 16 were at the trial, with the others sentenced in their absence.

They were part of a Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated terrorist cell based in Egypt, the prosecution said on Thursday.

The Muslim Brotherhood has been outlawed by the government of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, which accuses it of continuously trying to destabilise national security.

The police bus was carrying 50 security officers who were on their way to start their shift at the Rosetta police station, the prosecution said.

The convicted were also charged with colluding with a known terrorist group, funding terrorism in Egypt by supplying money and arms, and conspiring to commit murder.

The sentence is subject to appeal.

The Damanhour Criminal Court also sentenced to death eight others for murdering a police officer in Beheira in 2014.

They were also accused of being active members of a terrorist cell in Beheira, court documents show.

They were charged with conspiracy and of killing officer Rabie Mohamed, 38, as he was leaving his house. Another man was injured, the court said.

Two of those accused died in the battle. The other six were in court.

Their sentences are also subject to appeal.