A four year old boy has been sentenced to life in prison in Egypt in connection four counts of murder, eight counts of attempted murder, threatening soldiers and police officers, and damaging vehicles belonging to security forces.
Defense attorneys presented the boy’s birth certificate but the court refused to recognize it and then the case was sent to a military court, where the boy received a life sentence in absentia.
Ahmed Mansour Qarni, born in September 2012, was one of 116 Egyptians charged with murder, destruction of property, and inciting riots and demonstrations in connection with a January 2014 incident, when the boy was only 1, the Middle East Monitor reports.
Defense attorneys said documents confirming Ahmed’s age were denied by the court.
“The [child’s] birth certificate was presented after state security forces added his name to the list of accused, but then the case was transferred to the military court and the child was sentenced in absentia in an ensuing court hearing,” defense attorney Faisal a-Sayd said, according to The Jerusalem Post.
“This proves that the judge did not read the case,” he added.
The charges against the boy include four counts of murder, eight counts of attempted murder, threatening soldiers and police officers, and damaging vehicles belonging to security forces.
The sentencing has caused an uproar on social media, with users criticizing Egypt’s corrupt government and broken legal system.
“There is no justice in Egypt,” Egyptian lawyer Mohammed Abu Hurira said in response to the sentencing.
“Egypt is ruled by a bunch of lunatics,” he added.