Rights group: 485 death penalties issued in Egypt

Some 485 Egyptians have been handed the death penalty between 30 June 2013 and the end of December 2016, the Egyptian Observatory for Rights and Freedoms revealed today.

In a report, the Swiss based organisation said that in 50 cases all processes have been exhausted, including appeals to the highest courts, and so the judgments are final and enforceable.

Entitled “No end in sight for the systematic injustice”, the report said: “The trials of these cases lacked the basic standards of fair trials (…) the lack of an independence military judiciary contributed to this.”

Thousands of political detainees throughout the country have been subjected to legal and legislative violations because they are referred to military courts, even though they are civilians.

The report criticised “the successive authorities in Egypt for legalising military trials of civilians after the revolution of 25 January 2011, and turning them into an integral part of the justice system, rather than an exception.”