Al-Sisi’s Regime Executed Nine Men Despite Calls from Rights Group

Al-Sisi’s regime executed nine men for killing Egypt’s top prosecutor, a prison source and a lawyer said on Wednesday.

The men were among a group of 28 who were sentenced to death in the case in 2017. Public prosecutor Hisham Barakat was killed in a car bomb attack on his convoy in the capital, Cairo.

Despite all the calls to halt the executions of the nine prisoners, Al-Sisi’s regime executed them today morning.

Egyptian security officials say nine suspected men have been executed after being convicted of involvement in the 2015 assassination.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media, say the executions were carried out Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Feb. 19, Amnesty International called the Egyptian authorities to halt immediately the execution of nine prisoners whom Amnesty International has learned could be put to death on Wedenesday morning.

The men were convicted after an unfair trial over the 2015 killing of Egypt’s former public prosecutor and have been moved from their prison cells to the appeals prison in preparation for their executions.

During the trial, some of the defendants said they were forcibly disappeared and tortured to confess the crime.

Najia Bounaim, Amnesty International’s North Africa Campaigns Director said in yesterday’s report, “Time is running out to save the lives of these nine men. The Egyptian authorities have an opportunity to do the right thing by immediately halting any plans to carry out these executions.”

She added,”There is no doubt that those involved in deadly attacks must be prosecuted and held accountable for their actions but executing prisoners or convicting people based on confessions extracted through torture is not justice.

“The death penalty is a cruel, inhuman and irreversible punishment and its use in Egypt is even more appalling given the authorities’ track record of handing out death sentences after grossly unfair trials. At least six men have already been executed earlier this month after unfair trials. Instead of stepping up executions the Egyptian authorities should take steps to abolish the death penalty once and for all.”

The nine men were among 28 men sentenced to death for the killing of the former public prosecutor Hisham Barrkat in an attack in Cairo that took place in June 2015. Several of the men said they were forcibly disappeared and tortured in order to confess to the killing.

On 25 February 2018, the Court of Cassation upheld the decision against the nine men and commuted the sentence of six others to life imprisonment. 13 other men were convicted in absentia, and one of them was forcibly returned to Egypt from Turkey in January. Under Egyptian law, those sentenced in absentia are entitled to a retrial once in custody.

Rights groups have repeatedly expressed their “deep shock” and concern over execution in Egypt saying that”due process and fair trial guarantees” were not followed.