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Egyptian court issues verdict to prosecute Israel

Egypt's High Administrative Court court issued a verdict forcing the government to take necessary legal measures against Israel over its killing and torture of Egyptian soldiers captured during the 1956 and 1967 wars.
A view of the High Court of Justice in Cairo, Egypt, January 21, 2016. Egypt's highest appeals court adjourned the retrial of former president Hosni Mubarak until April on charges over the killing of protesters during the 2011 uprising that ended his 30-year rule. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany - RTX23D41
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CAIRO — On Jan. 21, Egypt’s High Administrative Court issued a final verdict forcing the Egyptian government to prosecute Israel internationally for committing acts of violence and torture against Egyptian prisoners of war during the 1956 and 1967 wars. The verdict brought back to the forefront Israel’s crimes against hundreds of Egyptian prisoners of war more than half a century ago and raised questions about whether Cairo will abide by the verdict.

In 2001, released Egyptian soldiers who survived captivity and the families of deceased soldiers filed a lawsuit with the State Council, asking the Egyptian government to prosecute Israel internationally and give them their wasted rights due to the torture in Israeli prisons in the wake of the wars. Egyptian prisoners of war were caught during the attacks between Israel on the one hand, and Egypt, Syria and Jordan on the other, on Egyptian territory in 1956 and 1967. Today, 16 years later, the court has ruled in their favor.

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