Egypt’s Sisi remarks on executions, claims judiciary ‘independent’

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi in Cairo, Egypt, on 11 June 2018 [Egyptian President Office/Apaimages]

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi has commented on the execution of nine young Egyptians accused of assassinating the country’s former Attorney General Hisham Barakat saying “no one can interfere in the judiciary’s work or its independence”.

Sisi Era - Cartoon [Latuff/MiddleEastMonitor]

Sisi Era – Cartoon [Carlos Latuff/MiddleEastMonitor]

“The state works to consolidate the principle of judicial independence through practices,” Al-Sisi said in a statement, adding that his country supports “the various judicial bodies, because the rule of law is the base of governance”.

READ: 52 Egyptians executed on political charges, 50 more await death

On Wednesday, the Egyptian interior ministry executed nine Egyptians accused of assassinating former Attorney General Hisham Barakat in June 2015.

Human rights organisations, including Amnesty International, appealed to the Egyptian authorities to stop the executions, saying the defendants’ families confirm that their confessions were obtained under torture and coercion, a claim Egypt denies.

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