Egypt Executes Nine Men Over Killing of Public Prosecutor
CAIRO (Dispatches) – Egyptian authorities have executed nine men convicted over the 2015 killing of the country’s chief 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.
Rights group Amnesty International had appealed on Tuesday for authorities to halt the executions, citing testimony by the defendants that they had been secretly detained and tortured into confessing.
Amnesty International had issued a warning on Tuesday.
"There is no doubt that those involved in deadly attacks must be prosecuted and held accountable for their actions,” said Najia Bounaim, Amnesty’s North Africa campaigns director. "But executing prisoners or convicting people based on confessions extracted through torture is not justice.”
The convicts had appealed the death sentences, but Egypt’s top court upheld the ruling in November last year.
Nineteen others were sentenced to varying prison terms in the case.
Of the total convicts, 13 were tried in absentia. Officials say they will be entitled to a new trial if they are ever located and apprehended by law enforcement.
Since 2013, the year that then-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi military ousted President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egyptian criminal courts have issued hundreds of death sentences.
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.
Rights group Amnesty International had appealed on Tuesday for authorities to halt the executions, citing testimony by the defendants that they had been secretly detained and tortured into confessing.
Amnesty International had issued a warning on Tuesday.
"There is no doubt that those involved in deadly attacks must be prosecuted and held accountable for their actions,” said Najia Bounaim, Amnesty’s North Africa campaigns director. "But executing prisoners or convicting people based on confessions extracted through torture is not justice.”
The convicts had appealed the death sentences, but Egypt’s top court upheld the ruling in November last year.
Nineteen others were sentenced to varying prison terms in the case.
Of the total convicts, 13 were tried in absentia. Officials say they will be entitled to a new trial if they are ever located and apprehended by law enforcement.
Since 2013, the year that then-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi military ousted President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egyptian criminal courts have issued hundreds of death sentences.