4-year-old boy gets life imprisonment for “murder” he committed at age two

A western Cairo court, this week, handed down the judgement in the child’s absence.

The child was listed as “wanted” for murder, disturbance of the peace and damaging state property in an indictment together with 115 other defendants sentenced to life imprisonment, Jerusalem Post reports.

Ahmed Mansour Karni was convicted in absentia for those offenses which allegedly took place two years ago, when he was just two years old.

Karni’s indictment include four counts of murder, eight counts of attempted murder, vandalizing property belonging to the Egyptian Health Administration in his home province of el-Fayoum (located some 70 kilometers southwest of Cairo), threatening soldiers and police officers and damaging vehicles belonging to security forces.

A defense attorney said the presiding judge had not reviewed the case as he (the lawyer) had presented the child’s birth certificate to the court.

“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,” said the defense attorney.

Reactions have trailed the judgement with many condemning the “mad” move.

An Egyptian lawyer wrote:

“On the eve of injustice and madness in Egypt, a four-year-old child was sentenced to life imprisonment. He is accused of disturbance, damage to property and murder. 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.”

A blogger simply described the judgment as a blind decision..