After Egypt executions, rights NGO urges torture probe

By Meryem Goktas

ISTANBUL (AA) – A U.K.-based rights group is calling for an investigation into claims that nine men recently executed by the Egyptian authorities -- in connection with a 2015 assassination -- were tortured into confessing to the crime.

In an interview with Anadolu Agency, Salma Ashraf, head of Human Rights Monitor, a London-based rights NGO, said that allegations the men were tortured had been ignored by the court that condemned them to death.

"Allegations of torture were being made,” she said. “All of them [later] denied their confessions, stating that they had been made under torture."

But according to Ashraf, the claims were never investigated -- either by the court or by international organs.

"They were subjected to severe torture and electrocution until one of them lost his memory and could not even recognize his family," Ashraf said, noting that all nine of those executed had been under 30 years old.

“This case not only violates international law, but also [Egyptian] law,” she said. “There should have been a stay of execution until the court could decide on the lawyers’ request for a retrial.”

“But the decision was made to end their lives and the court never upheld the law,” she lamented.

“In Egypt, law is manipulated by the security apparatus, which orders the killing of any force that might stand up against the dictatorship,” she said.

Ashraf added: “With such a degraded system of law, these executions will only continue.”

“They will continue as long as the world remains silent and does nothing,” she asserted. “They will continue as long as the perpetrators aren’t held accountable; as long as the regime is given international legitimacy.”

Calling on the international community to act against ongoing rights violations in Egypt, Ashraf said that such breaches should be monitored “to ensure they are brought to an end”.

She went on to call for an "international tribunal" to look into Egypt’s frequent resort to capital punishment.

“Restrictions should be imposed on this [Egyptian] government until human rights are applied and protected,” she said.

Human Rights Monitor is devoted to documenting rights violations in the Middle East with a special focus on Egypt.

“We strive to shed light on rights violations committed by the state against civilians,” Ashraf said. “And we apply all possible means of imposing pressure on these governments.”

Last week, the Egyptian authorities executed nine young men convicted earlier of assassinating an Egyptian prosecutor-general in 2015.

Hisham Barakat was killed in June 2015 in Cairo when a car bomb went off near his convoy.

Amnesty International said the men were convicted on terrorism charges after "grossly unfair trials" marred by alleged torture.

The death sentences were carried out despite calls by numerous international rights groups for a stay of execution.

Earlier this month, the Egyptian authorities executed another six people in two separate cases for the murder of a judge’s son and a senior police officer.

Egypt has remained beset by violence and turmoil since the army deposed Mohamed Morsi, the country's first freely elected president, in a 2013 coup.