An Egyptian criminal court today sentenced to death 31 Islamists for their part in the June 2015 assassination of the country's top prosecutor, Hisham Barakat. Hisham Barakat was the most senior government official killed by Islamic militants since the 2013 ouster of Mohammed Morsi, Egypt's first freely elected president by the military. The court will reconvene on July 22 to reaffirm the death sentences and issue its verdict on the 36 other defendants in the case. Of the 67 defendants, 15 are at large.