An Egyptian state security court on Sunday handed a death sentence to a man for the killing of six Coptic Christians and a Muslim police officer on Coptic Christmas Eve in January 2010, the Egyptian media reported.
The court ordered the death penalty to Mohamed Ahmed Hussein, 39, known as Hamam Kamouni, who had been charged with the premeditated murder, the media reported.
Three gunmen in a car attacked worshippers emerging from mass in the village of Nagaa Hammadi, near Qena in southern Egypt on January 6, 2010, targeting the Copts who mark Christmas on January 7.
The court also said that the verdicts for Hussein's two accomplices, Kurashi Abu Haggag and Hindawi Muhammed Sayyed, both charged with aiding in the murder and possession of weapons, would be announced on February 20.
The judge said Kamouni's sentence would be referred to the Grand Mufti, Egypt's top religious authority, for confirmation.
At the start of 2011, a suicide bomber killed 23 people and injured dozens of others in the deadliest attack on Christians in Egyptian history.
Christians account for about 10% of Egypt's largely Muslim population.
CAIRO, January 16 (RIA Novosti)
