Algeria lawmakers call for halt of mass executions in Egypt

Two parliamentary groups in Algeria yesterday called for official national and international action to halt mass executions against activists, human rights workers and political figures in Egypt.

The Movement of Society for Peace; the largest Islamic party in Algeria and the Union for Development, Justice and Building said in a joint statement that lawmakers “are following with great concern the developments of the human rights situation in the Arab world; the most recent of which was the issuance of mass death sentences against political, human rights and community symbols”.

The signatories described the executions as “a flagrant attack on the right to life”, which is politically motivated “amounting to genocide or mass murder according to international law”.

They called on “the Algerian parliament, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, human rights organisations, political parties, civil society actors and all the free world to intervene in order to stop these executions.”

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They also called on the United Nations Human Rights Council, the International Criminal Court and human rights organisations to act urgently to save the lives of those threatened with death and to save thousands of detainees from arbitrary sentences.

The Cairo Criminal Court on Saturday sentenced 75 people, including Muslim Brotherhood leaders, to death.