The Committee for Justice (CFJ) submitted an oral statement to the United Nations Human Rights Council, under Agenda Item 3, during the Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. The statement addressed the continued use of the death penalty in Egypt, deaths in custody, and the risks of arbitrary deprivation of life where capital sentences are imposed following torture allegations, enforced disappearance or unfair trial proceedings.
CFJ warned that Egypt continues to impose and implement death sentences in proceedings marked by serious due process concerns, including allegations of torture, enforced disappearance, denial of access to effective legal representation, and reliance on coerced confessions. CFJ stressed that executions carried out after torture-tainted or unfair proceedings may amount to arbitrary deprivation of life under international human rights law.
The statement also raised concern over persistent deaths in custody in Egypt’s prisons, police stations and other places of detention. CFJ noted that many of these deaths are linked to deliberate medical neglect, torture or other ill-treatment, unsafe detention conditions and the absence of independent and effective oversight.
Between 2013 and 2026, CFJ documented 1,361 deaths in custody in Egypt. In 2026 alone, CFJ documented 21 deaths in custody between 1 January and 24 May, following 56 deaths documented in 2025. These figures reflect a structural failure to protect the lives of persons deprived of liberty and a continuing pattern of impunity.
CFJ emphasized that deaths in custody trigger a heightened obligation on the State to provide a full and credible explanation and to conduct prompt, independent, impartial and effective investigations capable of establishing individual and command responsibility. Where torture allegations arise in capital cases, executions must be halted and sentences reviewed.
CFJ called on Egypt to immediately halt executions, review all death sentences involving torture allegations, enforced disappearance, coerced confessions or unfair trial concerns, and conduct independent and transparent investigations into all deaths in custody.
CFJ further called on the Human Rights Council and the Special Rapporteur to continue scrutinizing Egypt’s use of the death penalty and the patterns of impunity surrounding systematic deaths inside detention facilities due to ill-treatment, torture, and deliberate medical neglect, in line with the right to life, the absolute prohibition of torture, and guarantees of fair trial and due process.