Four-year-old Sentenced To Life In Prison For Murder

Source: thewillnigeria.com

SAN FRANCISCO, February 20, (THEWILL) –  An Egyptian court has sentenced a four-year-old boy, Ahmed Mansour Karni, to life in prison for committing four murders, attempting another eight, vandalising property and threatening police officers – all before the age of two

Born in September 2012, Ahmed Mansour Karni was swept up in an indictment listing his name along with 115 other defendants accused of participating in riots and demonstrations on January 3, 2014.

Despite that fact that Ahmed was only a year and a half old at the time, he was convicted in absentia and sentenced to life in prison along with 115 defendants who were all handed life sentences at the same time at the court in western Cairo for crimes allegedly committed in early 2014.

Although Ahmed's birth certificate was presented to the court, one of the defence attorneys accused the presiding judge of failing to review the case before abruptly passing down a life sentence on a four-year-old child.

Lawyer Faisal a-Sayd asserted, “The child Ahmed Mansour Karni'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. This proves that the judge did not read the case.”

Another lawyer said the case showed “there is no justice in Egypt”.

He said: “The Egyptian scales of justice are not reversible. There is no justice in Egypt. No reason. Logic committed suicide a while ago. Egypt went crazy. Egypt is ruled by a bunch of lunatics.”

Story by David Oputah