The Committee for Justice (CFJ) has submitted a written statement to the United Nations Human Rights Council 62nd session, contributing to the Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.
The statement addresses patterns of arbitrary deprivation of life in Sudan, Egypt, and The Gambia, including unlawful killings during armed conflict, deaths in custody resulting from torture or denial of medical care, and the continued imposition of death sentences.
In Sudan, CFJ warned that unlawful killings continue to take multiple forms, including direct killings of civilians, deaths following torture or denial of medical care in detention, and indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks affecting civilian areas, hospitals, markets, displacement sites, and social gatherings. Since the previous Human Rights Council session in late March, CFJ monitored 19 extrajudicial killings and 149 incidents involving civilians killed by shelling.
The statement refers to several grave incidents documented by CFJ, including the 20 March 2026 strike on El-Daein Teaching Hospital in East Darfur, which killed at least 64 civilians, most of them women and children, and injured approximately 113 others. CFJ also documented a drone strike targeting Al-Jabalain Hospital, which killed three medical professionals and other civilians, and an attack on a wedding celebration in Kutum, Darfur, which killed 56 civilians, including 17 children, and injured 107 others.
CFJ further highlighted deaths in detention in Sudan, including the death of detainee Al-Baqir Al-Tahir inside Dagaris Prison in Nyala after approximately 18 months of detention, amid severe overcrowding, food shortages, and lack of adequate healthcare. The statement also refers to the killing of civilian Nair Abu Sarwal inside a detention facility in West Kordofan under circumstances indicating torture following his arrest by members of the Rapid Support Forces.
In Egypt, CFJ stated that the right to life continues to be undermined through deaths in custody, torture, denial of medical care, and the failure to conduct prompt, independent, impartial, and effective investigations. These patterns remain particularly acute in police stations, prisons, courts, and other places of detention, where detainees continue to face abuse, deliberate denial of adequate healthcare, prolonged pretrial detention, and ineffective judicial oversight.
In 2025, CFJ documented 56 deaths in custody in Egypt through its Justice Watch Archive. From January to 24 May 2026, CFJ further documented 21 deaths in custody, most of them linked to deliberate medical neglect or denial of adequate healthcare. During the second half of 2025 alone, CFJ documented 973 violations inside at least 40 official and unofficial detention facilities across 17 governorates, including 34 deaths inside detention facilities, 38 cases of denial of medical care, and 25 incidents of torture.
Recent cases documented by CFJ include the death of a Sudanese refugee due to medical negligence inside a Cairo police station, the death of a Sudanese youth following police detention under unclear circumstances, the death of Guinean student Aboubacar Sawani in detention, and the death of a Sudanese child inside Badr Police Station in Cairo 25 days after his arrest.
The statement also addressed The Gambia, acknowledging important steps taken since the end of the Yahya Jammeh regime to restore democratic governance, strengthen civic freedoms, and pursue transitional justice. However, CFJ expressed concern regarding accountability, judicial reform, and the continued retention and use of the death penalty.
CFJ noted that in May 2026 the Bundung High Court reportedly sentenced Ousainou Jallow to death following his conviction for murder, while also imposing a life sentence for robbery. CFJ stressed that the continued imposition of death sentences is incompatible with the right to life and human dignity, particularly given The Gambia’s ratification of the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty.
CFJ urged the Human Rights Council and the Special Rapporteur to call on the concerned States to:
- Ensure prompt, independent, impartial, and effective investigations into all unlawful killings, deaths in custody, torture-related deaths, and deaths resulting from denial of medical care.
- Ensure accountability for perpetrators and supervising officials, guarantee access to forensic reports for families and lawyers, and provide effective remedies and reparations.
- Call on parties to the conflict in Sudan to cease attacks on civilians and civilian objects, disclose the fate and whereabouts of detainees, and allow independent monitoring of all detention sites.
- Urge Egypt to end torture, deliberate denial of healthcare, and impunity in places of detention, and establish effective civilian oversight over prisons and police stations.
- Urge The Gambia to establish an official moratorium on death sentences, commute existing death sentences, and adopt legislative measures toward full abolition of the death penalty.