Egypt executed 32 people since military coup as dozens remain on death row

egypt conviction

Egyptian military junta led by US-client Field Marshall Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, has executed 32 people since al-Sisi overthrew the first democratically elected President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.

According to the New Khaleej, Egyptian authorities have executed 32 people in nine cases since the coup d’état while 64 people are awaiting the death penalty in 13 other cases.

There is no precise count of the number of death sentences pending appeals in Egypt, however human rights organizations say they amount to hundreds.

Since 2013, Egyptian courts have sentenced hundreds to death, with most of the sentences appealed, while few were carried out.

At the same times human rights organizations have estimated that tens of thousands political detainees in its prisons. In September 2016, the Cairo-based Arabic Network for Human Rights Information said that the number of political detainees in Egypt has exceeded 60,000 individuals.

Egyptian Kangaroo Court sentences activist to jail for posting anti-govt video on social media

An Egyptian Kangaroo Court on Saturday (Sept 29) sentenced an activist to two years in jail over a video she posted on social media criticizing the government for failing to protect women against sexual harassment and over poor living conditions.

Amal Fathy, a member of the now banned April 6 youth movement which played a role in 2011 protests that forced President Hosni Mubarak from office, was also fined 10,000 Egyptian pounds ($562), her lawyer Tarek Abuel Nasr and state news agency MENA said.

She was charged with spreading false news that threatened national security and disseminating a video that violated public decency. She also faces other charges including joining an illegal group.

Rights groups have repeatedly criticized Egypt’s human rights situation, saying conditions have continued to deteriorate under Field Marshall Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who came to power in 2013 after the army overthrew President Mohamed Morsi.

Seventeen UN human rights experts criticized Egypt on Friday for its use of anti-terrorism laws to detain activists fighting for women’s rights and against graft, torture and extra-judicial killings.

Fathy was detained in May, days after she posted a 12-minute video in which she expressed her anger at poor public services at a local bank, heavy traffic, sexual harassment by a taxi driver and over a general deterioration in living conditions.

Egypt passed a law in July giving the state powers to block social media accounts and penalize journalists held to be publishing “fake news.”

UN experts says Egypt systematically targets rights activists

Seventeen UN human rights experts criticized Egypt on Friday for its use of anti-terrorism laws to detain activists fighting for women’s rights and against graft, torture and extra-judicial killings. The experts’ joint statement, unusual for attracting such a large number of signatories, named activists who had been detained for months, highlighting the case of women’s rights campaigner Amal Fathy.

“We are gravely concerned at the human rights defenders’ prolonged periods of detention, reportedly arising from their peaceful and legitimate defense of human rights,” they said.

The 17 independent experts all investigate rights for the UN Human Rights Council, which wrapped up a three-week session on Friday without any scrutiny of Egypt.

The systematic targeting of human rights defenders is yet another indication that the Egyptian Government is operating a zero-tolerance approach to dissent, which is often suppressed under the pretext of countering terrorism they said.

Earlier this month Amnesty International, a human rights charity, said Egypt had become an “open-air prison” under Field Marshall Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Court adjourns hearing session in ousted president Morsi’s trial

A Cairo Kangaroo court adjourned on Thursday a hearing session for former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi and others in the case known as the “break-in of the eastern border” only minutes after it had started due to repeated failures in the courtroom’s loudspeakers.

One of the defendants, the Muslim Brotherhood group’s Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie, was sitting on a wooden chair in the courtroom’s cage as he was suffering from back pain. When the court checked the presence of the defendants, the microphones would not work, which disrupted the session.

The court was set to hear the testimony of former interior minister Habib Al-Adli, who served during the era of US client ousted president Hosni Mubarak who ruled Egypt for 40 years from 1981 to 2011.

A criminal court had handed down death sentences to former president Mohamed Morsi in addition to Badie and a number of other Muslim Brotherhood leaders.

Abdus Sattar Ghazali is the Chief Editor of the Journal of America (www.journalofamerica.net) email: asghazali2011 (@) gmail.com

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