Thirty men were sentenced on Saturday to between 10 years and life in prison for planning a suicide bombing on a church in the Egyptian city of Alexandria and other charges, court officials said.

The authorities said at the time of their arrest that the defendants had embraced the ideas of the Islamic State and had received training abroad and in Egypt.

Twenty of the defendants who appeared in court did not react to the sentences, and there was no immediate comment from the lawyers representing them. The other 10 are still on the run and were sentenced in absentia.

The attack on the church did not take place. But minority Christians have faced a series of assaults in Alexandria and other parts of Egypt in recent years.</s>CAIRO - Thirty men were sentenced to between 10 years to life imprisonment on Saturday for planning a suicide bombing on a church in the Egyptian city of Alexandria and other charges, a court official said.

Authorities said at the time of their arrest that the defendants had embraced the ideas of the Islamic State group and received training abroad and in Egypt.

Twenty of the defendants who appeared in court, dressed in white prison garb, did not react to the sentences, and there was no immediate comment from lawyers representing them. The other 10 are still on the run and were sentenced in absentia.

The attack on the church did not take place. But minority Christians have faced a series of assaults in Alexandria and other parts of Egypt in recent years.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for suicide bombings on churches in Alexandria and Tanta in April 2017 that left 45 people dead.

The defendants were also accused of planning to bomb a liquor store in the Mediterranean city of Damietta, joining an illegal group and possessing weapons and explosives.

Eighteen of them received life terms, which are 25 years long in Egypt, eight got 15 years in prison and four were sentenced to 10 years, the head of the Alexandria Criminal Court, convened in Cairo, said.

Egyptian authorities have cracked down on Islamist groups since President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi led the 2013 military overthrow of Egypt’s first freely-elected president, Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood.</s>Egypt sentences 18 to life in prison for Islamic State ties

CAIRO (AP) — An Egyptian court has sentenced 18 suspected militants to life in prison for allegedly forming a "terrorist cell" affiliated with the Islamic State group.

The Cairo criminal court on Saturday sentenced another 12 defendants to 10 to 15 years on charges that include plotting attacks on the country's Christian minority in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, assaulting security forces and disrupting public order.

All sentences are subject to appeal.

Egypt has been battling Islamic militants for years, but the insurgency gained strength after the 2013 military overthrow of a freely elected but divisive Islamist president.

Since then, courts have held mass trials and sentenced hundreds of people to death.

Rights groups have repeatedly criticized such mass sentencings in Egypt and called on authorities to ensure fair trials.</s>In Egypt, a court sentenced 30 accused up to 25 years in prisons over terrorist charges and their affiliation with the Islamic State terror group.

The Cairo Criminal Court sentenced 18 defendants to 25 years, eight to 15 years and four others to 10 years for joining the terror outfit, possessing explosives and attempting to blow up a church in the seaside province of Alexandria.

The prosecution also charged the accused for targeting vital state institutions and receiving training with IS members in war-torn Syria and Libya.</s>CAIRO - An Egyptian court has sentenced 18 suspected militants to life in prison for allegedly forming a “terrorist cell” affiliated with the Islamic State group.

The Cairo criminal court on Saturday sentenced another 12 defendants to 10 to 15 years on charges that include plotting attacks on the country’s Christian minority in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, assaulting security forces and disrupting public order.

All sentences are subject to appeal.

Egypt has been battling Islamic militants for years, but the insurgency gained strength after the 2013 military overthrow of a freely elected but divisive Islamist president.

Since then, courts have held mass trials and sentenced hundreds of people to death.</s>CAIRO — An Egyptian court has sentenced 18 suspected militants to life in prison for allegedly forming a “terrorist cell” affiliated with the Islamic State group.

The Cairo criminal court on Saturday sentenced another 12 defendants to 10 to 15 years on charges that include plotting attacks on the country’s Christian minority in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, assaulting security forces and disrupting public order.

All sentences are subject to appeal.

Egypt has been battling Islamic militants for years, but the insurgency gained strength after the 2013 military overthrow of a freely elected but divisive Islamist president.

Since then, courts have held mass trials and sentenced hundreds of people to death.

Rights groups have repeatedly criticized such mass sentencings in Egypt and called on authorities to ensure fair trials.

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>AN early-morning shootout between police and suspects in Freeport ended in the death of two men.

Freeport police were on patrol when, at about 4 am they said they noticed the men acting suspiciously on Fireburn Road.

Police approached the men and were shot at, after which they returned fire and the suspects were shot.

They men were taken to the Chaguanas Health Facility where they were declared dead on arrival.

The men are still unidentified.</s>An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced 18 people to life in prison for joining ISIS and plotting to bomb a church, a judicial source said.

The state security criminal court in Cairo heard that some of the defendants had undergone “militant training” in Libya and Syria.

The prosecution in their investigation accused the defendants of planning a “suicide bombing” in July 2017 at a church in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, the source said.

They were also convicted for plotting to bomb a liquor store the same year in the town of Damietta, 200 kilometers northeast of the capital.

ISIS claimed responsibility for twin church bombings on Palm Sunday in April 2017 that killed 45 people. One of the churches targeted was a Coptic cathedral in Alexandria.

Saturday’s sentence saw 30 defendants in total. Eight were given 15 years in prison and four others were handed 10-year jail sentences.

All were convicted for joining a “terrorist group”, planning terror acts as well as possession of explosives, firearms, and ammunition, the source said.

Egypt has been locked for the past year in deadly battles with insurgents affiliated with ISIS in its eastern Sinai Peninsula.

Around 600 suspected militants and 40 soldiers have been killed in an army offensive launched in February 2018, according to official figures.
Thirty men are sentenced in Egypt for planning an attack on a church in Alexandria, with eighteen men receiving life sentences and twelve men receiving between ten to fifteen years in prison.