An Egyptian court on Saturday referred a death sentence against two monks, accused of killing a bishop, to the country’s top religious authority for his opinion.
Coptic Bishop Epiphanius was found dead with a head wound in July at the Saint Macarius monastery in the plains of Wadi al-Natrun, northwest of Cairo.
Prosecutors said one of the monks Isaiah confessed to striking the abbot with a metal bar as the second monk Philotheos kept watch.
The Grand Mufti is required by law to give its legally non-binding opinion in cases of executions.
The court said the ruling will be officially issued on April 24.
In the wake of the bishop's killing, Egypt's Coptic Church placed a one-year moratorium on accepting new monks.
It also banned monks from social media, tightened financial controls and refocused attention on spiritual life.
