Amnesty International on Wednesday 2 December denounced a
"frenzy of executions"
in Egypt with the killing of at least 57 people in the past two months, reflecting a
"deep human rights crisis"
in the country.
"The Egyptian authorities have embarked on a horrible frenzy of executions in recent months, putting a multitude
(of prisoners)
to death,"
said Philip Luther, head of the NGO for the Middle East and North Africa , quoted in a press release.
Read also: Egypt: the Copts on their guard
According to Amnesty,
"in October and November alone, Egyptian authorities executed at least 57 men and women"
and these figures
"probably
represent
an underestimate"
of the actual number.
In 2019, 32 people were executed throughout the year, according to the organization.
The latter, which denounces convictions obtained after "confessions"
marred by torture "
, also regrets that the authorities are also targeting
" courageous human rights defenders "
who document these violations.
Amnesty evokes the arrests in November by the Egyptian authorities of three members of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), to question them about their work of documentation on criminal justice.
"Apparent retaliation"
According to Amnesty, the
"execution frenzy"
began after a violent incident in September in which four prisoners and four prison guards were killed.
The executions are
"apparent reprisals"
for this incident, Amnesty said.
The organization said that in addition to the 57 executions it was able to verify,
"pro-government media reported that 31 other men and women were executed in October and November
.
"
But these latest executions could not be verified by Amnesty.
Another NGO, Human Rights Watch, claimed on October 22 that 49 executions took place in ten days in October.
As Amnesty in its statement Wednesday, HRW had called for
"the immediate end"
of the killings.
Read also: The gap is widening between laity and religious in Egypt
In addition, Amnesty regrets that due to the
"lack of transparency of the authorities, the number of prisoners currently threatened with execution is unknown"
.
The organization cites the case of the Coptic monk Wael Tawadros, convicted in April 2019 for the murder of a bishop, who suffered “discriminatory and punitive treatment” including a lack of correspondence with his family or access to a priest.
Since the removal by the army in Egypt in 2013 of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi and the coming to power the following year of Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a growing repression has descended on all forms of opposition, Islamist or liberal.
