Egypt Says It Sentenced Boy, 4, to Prison in Error

The Egyptian military admitted last week it made a mistake when sentencing a 4-year-old boy to prison for life. A mistaken identity and confusion inside the Egyptian court system led to the error. A 16-year-old boy was to be sentenced for murder. But a 4-year-old was sentenced because he had a similar name. Ahmed Mansour Qurani Ali was wrongly convicted for playing a part in a Muslim Brotherhood riot in 2014. Ali’s lawyer provided documents which proved Ali was 1 year old at the time. The teenager the military meant to convict was Ahmed Mansour Qurani Sharara. Fox News reported that the military has not announced what the next steps will be for the child and his family since the error was admitted. The conviction of a 4-year-old child for the crime of murder is the latest embarrassment for the Egyptian court. The court has been accused of secrecy and too many arrests of citizens. More than 40,000 people have been imprisoned in Egypt during the past two years, the BBC reported. I’m Jim Dresbach.   United Press International reported on this story. Jim Dresbach adapted the story for VOA Learning English. Kathleen Struck was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section or visit our Facebook page. _______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story   convicted – v. to prove that someone is guilty of a crime in a court of law teenager – n. a person aged from 13 to 19 years embarrassment – n. the state of feeling foolish in front of others

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