Egyptian teen's murderers sentenced to death

Five young Egyptians were sentenced to death on Saturday for hurling a teenager to his death from a moving train after stealing his mobile phone, judicial sources said.

A court in Ismailiya, northeast of Cairo, found the men aged between 19 and 24 guilty of the murder last April of Mohammed Mahmud Hamed, 16.

The teenager was in an empty carriage of an Ismailiya-Zagazig train when he was set upon by the five assailants who seized his mobile and three Egyptian pounds (about $0.55).

They tied him up and threw him off the train, the court heard, and Hamed died on the spot when his head smashed against the ground. His attackers were tracked down after they sold the phone.

In Egypt, death sentences have to be approved by the mufti as being in line with Islamic law. Amnesty International said at least two people were executed in the country last year.