An Egyptian court on Saturday referred the death sentences of 37 defendants, including one of the country’s most high-profile militants, to Egypt’s top religious authority for a non-binding opinion on whether they can be executed on terrorism-related charges. Customarily all death sentences in Egypt are sent to the Grand Mufti for his office’s advice on whether the ruling is consistent with religious law. The Cairo Criminal Court said the defendants were charged with belonging to a local affiliate of the Islamic State group spearheading an insurgency in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.