Egypt sentences extremist to death

A state security court in Egypt has sentenced a Muslim extremist to death for killing a Christian school headmaster.

The man was stabbed to death outside the Franciscan school in the port city of Suez in l993.

The sentence against Gharib al-Shahhat, a member of the militant Gamaa't al Islamiya, must be approved by the mufti .

Muslim militants have often targetted the Coptic Christian community during their campaign of violence against the secular government, begun in l992.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service