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We reject the execution of seven people charged with killing a police officer, and we call on the international community to press for the end of executions in Egypt

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The Egyptian Ministry of Interior has carried out the death penalty issued against seven defendants in case No. 6771 of 2013, after they were convicted of killing senior Police officer Ahmed Abu Doma, an assistant officer at the Department of Investigations, the Ismailia Third Police Headquarters, in 2013.

The Committee for Justice (CFJ) rejects the death penalty in principle, and further emphasizes that the Egyptian regime’s excessive use of that punishment in general, and its implementation against the seven defendants in that particular case, opens the door to more questions about the legitimacy of the court that these defendants have been tried before.

The seven defendants were not granted their full rights to a fair trial. Available information indicate the torture of a number of them, but the published information on these incidents of torture did not result in determining whether the public prosecutor or the court had investigated it, or whether of the officers at the Third Ismailia Police Headquarters were held accountable for carrying out that torture.

Additionally, the extent of the impact of this torture on the confessions of the seven defendants during investigations, before the prosecution, and trial has not been taken into account. The confessions, however, were relied upon to issue the death sentences and then executions.

Despite the burial of the seven expected defendants, CFJ demands the international community to exert more pressure on the Egyptian regime in order to prevent more executions, especially since there are many defendants in political cases facing final executions. The latest of those cases have been convinced in the case known as Kerdasa.

CFJ calls for a retrial in the case against the seven defendants, the investigation of incidents of torture, and holding those responsible accountable.

CFJ reaffirms that the death penalty violates the right to life, which is a basic human right. In light of the lack of full guarantees for a fair trial in the current Egyptian judicial system, the implementation of this ruling and others like it is a flagrant violation of this important human right.

CFJ also highlights the fact that in recent years, Egyptian courts issued approximately 2595 death sentences, during the period from 2011 to 2018, including mass death sentences issued by extraordinary and exceptional courts, whose members were chosen to prosecute specific persons and certain cases in violation of the impartiality and independence of the judiciary enshrined in the constitution and the law.

For more information and media requests or inquiries, please get in touch with us (+41229403538 / media@cfjustice.org)

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