🔴 The Right to Life
The right to life is the supreme right that cannot be violated even in times of public emergencies, and this right is the foundation upon which all human rights are built.
International texts have taken on the protection of this right, such as what is included in the first paragraph of Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which states that "the right to life is inherent to every human being, and the national law must protect this right, and no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life," as well as Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that "everyone has the right to life, liberty, and personal security."
As expressed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "Volker Turk," who said: "It is almost impossible to reconcile the imposition of the death penalty with human dignity and the fundamental right to life and the right to live free from torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment." He also declared before the Human Rights Council: "The use of the death penalty against any human being is a horrific and dreadful act, while its use against individuals who have not even committed the crime they are accused of is incomprehensible."
What "Volker Turk" referred to is precisely what has been happening in Egypt since the events of July 2013, where the military regime in power has persistently issued death sentences - and carried them out - against its political opponents through rulings that lack the most basic standards of justice, ignoring all international covenants and treaties as well as the provisions of the constitution and law.
According to our observations, the Egyptian judiciary - loyal to the authority - has issued 2,300 decisions to refer the papers of defendants to the Mufti in political cases from 2013 until October 2025, and has issued 1,613 final death sentences - against political opponents - from 2013 until October 2025. From 2015 to 2025, 105 executions were carried out against political opponents.
Amid this torrent of unjust rulings, all guarantees established for defendants sentenced to death have been violated, starting from their arrest, through public prosecution investigations and trial procedures, up to the issuance of the death sentence, where they were subjected to arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance, and lawyers were not allowed to attend with them during investigations. They were not tried before their natural judge - as they were tried before exceptional judicial circuits such as "Terrorism Circuit" or Supreme State Security Emergency Courts or military courts - and this was coupled with the court's insistence on rejecting the legal defense requests for their clients and threatening lawyers with disciplinary action, as well as rejecting the defendants' requests and their defense to hear exculpatory witnesses. The rulings were issued with flaws, as they relied on confessions tainted by torture and were based on investigations that the Court of Cassation has established as being presumptive evidence that does not rise to the level of proof.
In recent years, as the Egyptian regime continues to issue and carry out these unjust rulings against the innocent, many local and international organizations have condemned, through statements and reports, affirming that these trials were conducted lacking the most basic standards and guarantees of a fair trial, especially since some of them were issued against opposition leaders, former ministers, and former parliament members, which confirms that these trials and the resulting death sentences were issued to punish political opponents.
On this day, October 10, the World Day Against the Death Penalty, we call upon the free and honorable people around the world and human rights defenders to demand from the Egyptian ruling authority with us:
• To stop the use of the death penalty and abolish it.
• To take all necessary steps to adhere to the guarantees of due legal process required to conduct fair trials.
• To ratify the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights concerning the abolition of the death penalty.
• To abolish all military and exceptional trials.
Friday, October 10, 2025 Al-Shehab Human Rights Center (London)
