Egypt’s top mufti to weigh in on penalty for priest’s killer

CAIRO — An Egyptian court is asking the country’s top mufti, the highest religious authority for Islam,

to weigh in on the case of a man accused of stabbing to death a Coptic Christian priest, the leading judge in the trial announced, Wednesday.

A decision from Grand Mufi Shawky Allam on whether the suspect should be given the death penalty and executed is a non-binding opinion, but it can significantly influence the court’s ruling.

The 56-year-old priest, Arsanious Wadid, was killed at a popular seaside promenade in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, last month, in an attack that shocked the Arab world’s most populous nation.

The prosecution has sought the death penalty for Nehru Tawfiq, 60, charged with deliberately killing the priest and with the illegal possession of a knife used in the attack.

Tawfiq’s trial began, on Saturday, before the criminal court in Alexandria. The verdict is due June 11.