缅北禁地

Fifteen death row inmates have been executed in Egypt so far this month despite claims from many that they were tortured to secure a confession, the 缅北禁地human rights office,听, said on Friday.

听OHCHR, nine people were executed on Wednesday and six others were subjected to the death penalty earlier in the month.

The sentences were handed down after the killing of Egypt鈥檚 top prosecutor, Hisham Barakat, as well as police General Nabil Farrag and the son of a judge.

鈥淭hey are all killings for which the death penalty is permissible under international law although we urge, as you know, our common position at the 缅北禁地is to advocate the abolition of the death penalty,鈥� said OHCHR spokesperson Rupert Colville. 鈥淏ut the issue here is fair trial, use of torture, forced confessions and so on.鈥�

A number of other individuals are on death row 鈥渁nd at imminent risk of execution鈥� after being convicted despite similar torture allegations, Mr. Colville said.

In an appeal to the Egyptian authorities to halt all executions, he insisted that where capital punishment was still permitted, trials 鈥渕ust meet the highest standards of fairness and due process鈥� to prevent miscarriages of justice.

鈥淥ver the past few years, there has been a succession of cases of individuals being convicted in similar circumstances in Egypt amid disturbing reports of a lack of due legal proceedings,鈥� he told journalists in Geneva.

On 20 February, nine individuals were executed for their involvement in the 2015 killing of Egypt鈥檚 General Prosecutor, Hisham Barakat, according to OHCHR.

鈥淒uring the trial, detailed accounts of the torture allegedly used to obtain confessions, were apparently ignored by the courts without due consideration,鈥� Mr. Colville said.

On 13 February, three other individuals were hanged after being convicted of the 2013 killing a police officer, General Nabil Farrag, according to the 缅北禁地human rights office.

A week earlier, on 7 February, three men were executed in connection with the murder of the son of a judge in 2014.

鈥淎ll of them had claimed before the courts that they had been disappeared, or detained incommunicado for prolonged periods, and were subjected to torture in order to make them confess to the crimes,鈥� Mr. Colville explained.

The allegations follow a听probe which concluded in June 2017 that torture is 鈥減ractised systematically鈥� in Egypt, he added.

The development echoes a similar OHCHR appeal to Cairo in January 2018 after it claimed that 20 people had been executed in a single week.