Egypt must halt executions, warn UN experts

GENEVA (3 April 2024) – UN experts* today expressed grave concern about the confirmation of the death sentences against seven individuals by Egypt’s highest court on 24 January 2024, in the so-called "Helwan Brigade” counter-terrorism case. Their executions would constitute arbitrary killings in violation of the right to life as a result of unfair trials and other human rights violations, they said.

“Capital punishment may only be carried out after a legal process that guarantees all of the safeguards required by international human rights law,” the experts said.

The experts said these cases allegedly involved grave violations of international law, including enforced disappearances and incommunicado detention, torture and forced confessions, denial of access to lawyers and family visits, protracted pre-trial detention, solitary confinement, inhuman detention conditions, and mass trials before special terrorism courts which did not meet fair trial standards.

“Egypt has also failed to independently and effectively investigate and remedy these alleged violations as required by international and Egyptian law,” they said.

The death sentences further violate international law because they are based on convictions for vague and overly broad terrorist offences, including when these may not meet the threshold of “most serious” crimes. There is also a real risk that executions in practice may constitute prohibited torture or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.

“We urge Egypt to halt these executions, to independently investigate the alleged human rights violations and review the judicial proceedings in light of Egypt’s international obligations,” the experts said.

UN experts have previously called on Egypt to suspend executions following repeated allegations of unfair trials in terrorism cases. “We are profoundly concerned that these cases are not isolated but seem to be part of a systematic misuse of counter-terrorism and national security laws, including to impose the death penalty, which undermines human rights and the rule of law,” the experts said.

The experts also urged Egypt to consider abolishing the death penalty, in light of the pro-abolitionist spirit of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the recommendations of the United Nations Human Rights Committee in 2023.