3-Year-Old Egyptian Toddler Sentenced to Life in Prison

Attorneys have asked if it was a case of mistaken identity, why did the now-3-year-old get arrested, and police have yet to charge the teen who they said participated in protests in support of President Mohamed Morsy that turned violent in the area of Fayyoum, Egypt.

An Egyptian military court awarded life-term to a four-year-old child for “committing murder” when he was only one-years-old.

Ahmed would have been 16 months old at the time. The man, Mansour Qorany Sharara, wasted four months behind bars until a judge released him.

He says a 16-year-old student named Ahmed Mansour Qurany Sharara was implicated over the course of investigations and should have been the one sentenced.

The boy’s father, identified as Mansour Qurany Ahmed, appeared Saturday on the Egyptian talk show Al-Ashara Masa’an, prior to the military’s remarks about mistaken identity. CNN reports that although an aide said the boy would not be put in jail, his mother told a reporter police visited their home, asking about the Ahmed and his father.

The family of the toddler later told CNN that they feel somewhat relieved by the assurances.

This came after the court was presented with Ahmed’s birth certificate, which allegedly failed to transfer it to the judge, according to lawyer Faisal al-Sayd.

The main suspect for the crimes was older – a 16-year-old relative with the same name who had reportedly left the country. They won’t take him from me. In cases of street demonstrations or clashes, hundreds are usually arrested and charged.

In 2014 more than 1200 people were sentenced to death in two mass trials, which the United Nations described as “rife with procedural irregularities”.

The other 115 defendants tried with Ahmed were also handed life sentences. “We’ve seen cases where defendants were either deceased years before the incident or in prison when it happened”, said Abu Kaf, the lawyer. CNN’s Susannah Cullinane wrote from Auckland, New Zealand, and Tim Hume wrote from London.