Death for Egypt drug smugglers

Four Jordanians have been sentenced to death by an Egyptian court for smuggling hashish into Egypt.

The verdict, handed down by a court in al-Tor in the Sinai peninsula, has to be approve by Egypt's top cleric before it can be carried out.

One of the men had identified the other three as accomplices after 173kg of the drug was found in his truck.

London-based human-rights group Amnesty International says he death penalty is quite rare in Egypt.

Security officials stopped the truck at the Red Sea port of Nuweiba where the hashish was found concealed in the tyres.

Only the driver was present in court for the verdict and the other three were sentenced in their absence.

Grand Mufti of Egypt Ali Gomaa will have to approve the court's decision before the execution goes ahead.

In December 2008, an Egyptian court sentenced three Syrian men to death by hanging for trafficking heroin and opium.