Death penalty for killing Copts a year ago in Naga Hammadi

Mohamed El Kammouny in the cage of the accused during his proces.

Copts in general were satisfied with the death sentence given to Mohamed El-Kamouny for the killing of six Copts and a Muslim guard, one year ago on the Coptic Christmas on 6 January. El-Kamouny and two others opened fire on that day on worshippers leaving church in the Upper Egyptian town of Naga Hammadi following the  Christmas mass. 
Qena's Emergency State Security Court said that Hussein's two accomplices, Kurashi Abu Haggag and Hindawi Muhammed Sayyid, who were charged with aiding the murder and possession of weapons, would be sentenced on February 20.
The ruling has satisfied Egypt's Copts after the trial has dragged on for over a year."This ruling is the application of both God's justice and the court's," said Bishop Armia, secretary of Pope Shenouda III of the Coptic Orthodox Church. Bishop Anba Kirolos of Naga Hammadi also welcomed the ruling.
 Ashraf Kirolos, a Coptic lawyer, told Al Ahram that it was the first death sentence handed out for a case of sectarian violence in Egypt since 1971. Some people raised the question what the verdict would have been if there had not been an attack on the Two Saints church in Alexandria on New Years eve, which killed 23 people and injured some 90.