An Egyptian court has handed a life sentence to a local man for burning a police station in violent riots back in 2013. There's only one problem - the man was shot dead by security forces during the riot.
According to a report by The New Arab on Friday, the court sentenced Ahmad Abdel Wahed Safawy this week along with 170 other men, all accused of setting a police station on fire during a riot three years ago in Ibshway, located south of Cairo.
The riot was part of the backlash after President Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood was ousted, which led to a crackdown on the Islamist movement.
The bizarre sentencing ignores the fact that Safawy was shot in the stomach during the riot, according to the report. Three weeks later the 28-year-old kiosk worker died of his wounds, leaving behind a wife and two young children.
"He heard gunshots so he went to go and see what was happening, he was then shot by the police. We haven't pressed any charges because there's no rule of law these days," Safawy's grandfather claimed in a televised interview last year.
He added, "Ahmad wasn't a terrorist."
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused the new military-backed government of conducting "crimes against humanity" over how it cracked down on pro-Morsi demonstrators, leaving hundreds dead in July and August 2013.