Two men, who had just been sentenced to death for murder, took out razor blades and threatened to slash eight defendants sharing the same courtroom cage in southern Egypt, court sources said Tuesday.
It took police in the Beni Suef criminal court eight hours to calm and subdue the men -- Nassr Mohamed, a 22-year-old carpenter, and Farag Ibrahim, a 26-year-old farmer -- who had been condemned for murdering a motorist and stealing his car, the sources said.
Mohamed and Ibrahim calmed down after the police agreed to allow one of the men to see his mother and the other his blind brother, the sources said.
The hostages were freed unharmed.
Those being tried for serious crimes in Egypt usually appear in court behind cages.
Beni Suef is 25 kilometers (75 miles) south of Cairo.
Separately, two other men were sentenced to death Tuesday in southern Egypt for the murder of an 11-year-old girl they tried to rape as she was returning home from school, criminal court sources said -- CAIRO (AFP)
