Guaranteed impunity, Sisi has increased his violations

Inside Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi’s prisons of death doctors, engineers, teachers, intellectuals, students, young men, and women are subjected to enforced disappearance and detention in conditions that do not meet the minimum standards of human life. Some have received death sentences issued by judges who have been bribed.

At the funeral of former Public Prosecutor Hisham Barakat, Al-Sisi said “justice was constrained by-laws”.

Since then, the issuance of death sentences increased dramatically after he formed special circuits of courts and appointed judges who follow his command, and mass executions were approved by Grand Mufti Shawki Allam.

In the past, the Court of Cassation used to be the last resort to appeal unjust rulings and refer the case for re-trial. However, in Al-Sisi’s era, the Court of Cassation became restrained as special circuits were formed to consider appeals and approve these unjust rulings.

The Egyptian judiciary turned into a puppet of the regime, especially when it comes to cases involving the opposition.

OPINION: Egyptians are quietly being executed

These courts impose severe penalties against defendants, including the death penalty, despite being provided with compelling evidence of enforced disappearance and confessions extracted as a result of torture.

So far, the number of people who have been sentenced to death has reached 848, including 158 whose sentences have been approved with a final ruling. Ninety-three have already been executed.

The latest of these executions took place on the morning of 4 July against Moataz Mostafa Hassan in the Appeal Prison in Cairo.

The rest of defendants are awaiting a decision by the Court of Cassation.

It is appalling that such rulings and executions go unnoticed in the international community, which does not take any firm stance, with complete silence by decision-makers, and no media coverage of these serious crimes, except some condemnations by human rights organisations.

The Sisi regime does not respect local or international law, and it carries out executions all the time, even on the most sacred days.

In the Holy month of Ramadan, 17 detainees were executed, including an old man who was proven not to be present in the events of the case, and whose health and age would never allow him to carry out such crimes.

Executions are carried out at midnight without any humanitarian measures applied; the victims are not allowed to call their families to say goodbye or leave a will.

Families of victims are not informed that their sons have passed away until they receive a shocking call from the morgue asking them to collect their corpses.

In many cases, funerals are not allowed and burial is ordered to take place at night under heavy security.

In the midst of the Egyptians’ preoccupation with the issue of the Grand Ethiopia Renaissance Dam (GERD) which poses a great threat to the lives of Egyptians, the Court of Cassation approved the death penalty against 12 leaders of the peaceful anti-coup sit-in of 3 July 2013. These defendants played an important role during the January revolution which overthrew Hosni Mubarak.

After it killed more than 1,000 people in one day in the squares and streets of Egypt, imprisoned thousands, and imposed its control with force, why does it still insist on committing more murders? What possible danger could these detainees held incommunicado in high-security prisons pose to the regime?

The allies of this regime, who claim to defend human rights and the right to life, make arms deals with the regime and give all their support to this brutal regime to move forward with its violations against innocent people.

With blatant hypocrisy, these countries who could have, and still can take strict measures to deter the Sisi regime, stop its violations and bring an end to unjust death penalties issued by unfair courts, put their material interests above the interest of the law or lives of people, and provided impunity for Al-Sisi to commit more crimes.

READ: Egypt executes 16 people in one week

With impunity, Al-Sisi increased his violations

History will record the Sisi regime as the deadliest in contemporary history. He utilised all tools of the state to undermine his opponents, orphaned, widowed, and hurt the hearts of millions.

We have exhausted all means to stop Al-Sisi’s crimes in the United Nations, the Human Rights Council, and the governments of hypocritical countries, with no results. The only way to deter such tyrants is for influential countries to take action and save the lives of thousands of innocents whose only crime is that they wanted everyone to live with dignity in a free homeland away from injustice and tyranny!

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.