Official statement: On the 20th anniversary of the World Day against the Death Penalty....Stop the executions.
Since the military coup in 2013, the death penalty has become a systematic repression tool for the Egyptian regime against its political opponents. Most trials- in which the death penalty was imposed on political opponents, whether implemented or still under implementation, lacked all fair trial standards. The legislative, judicial, and executive practices represent grave dangers and clear violations of all international covenants ratified by Egypt.
Undoubtedly, life is a fundamental right established by all laws, religions and unequivocally confirmed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The death penalty is a flagrant infringement of this right, therefore, most states have tended either to abolish this punishment or to stop its implementation outrightly to protect and maintain the right to life; yet, this trend has not found its way to Egypt. Instead, the death penalties continued alongside the corruption in the legislative and judicial system which led to the loss of dozens to their lives with an almost complete absence of justice and its components and tools.
Therefore, the death penalty remains one of the most inhumane punishments that requires serious and immediate efforts to be abolished. It also necessitates continuous sincere work to replace it with other humane penalties that are compatible with the global trend rejecting death penalties and match the international covenants ratified by Egypt. The implementation of the death penalty not only violates the right to life of the convicts, but also negatively affects the convict’s children, spouses, and relatives. This is because of the heavy psychological burden they carry, and the serious societal challenges either to their view of society or society's view of them.
The World Day against the Death Penalty comes this year while the Egyptian government has executed (.......); while others (….…) await the implementation of this punishment at any moment as their verdicts have become final and unobjectionable. All this happens in the absence of fair trial standards during a turbulent political period. According to The World Justice Project (WJP) Rule of Law Index, Egypt has remained in the last ranks over the past years (number 136 out of 139 countries). This confirms the serious defects planted in the Egyptian justice/judicial system by the current regime.
In this context, El-Shehab for Human Rights demands the following:
1. The immediate moratorium of the death sentences in Egypt, and a review of the sentences and trials in a manner that is consistent with the Egyptian Constitution and International covenants ratified by Egypt.
2. Ratification of the Egyptian government on the Second Optional Protocol of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, regarding the abolition of the death penalty.
3. In light of its insistence on the punishment by the death penalty, the Egyptian government must be committed to Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as stipulated in its second paragraph: “In countries which have not abolished the death penalty, sentence of death may be imposed exclusively on the most serious crimes, in front of a competent court and a natural judge, with fair trial procedures that abide by international covenants”.
4. Working towards the activation of resolution 62/149 of the United Nations General Assembly 2007, which calls for imposing a moratorium on the implementation of the death penalty. It also calls for opening a broad community debate - official and popular - about the death penalty and its feasibility, considering replacing it with other penalties. In addition, it requests working to reform the legislative and judicial system, towards protecting the right to life.
5. Egyptian government must consider the recommendations of the experts of the United Nations and the African Commission regarding death sentences in Egypt.
Stop the executions
