Egypt executes 15 people for post-coup ‘violence’

By Hussein al-Kabbani and Viola Fahmy

CAIRO (AA) - Egypt’s Interior Ministry on Tuesday oversaw the execution of 15 people convicted earlier for involvement in “act of violence” in 2013, a local security source told Anadolu Agency.

The source, who spoke anonymously due to restrictions on speaking to media, said the executions had been carried out in the Borg al-Arab and Wadi al-Natrun prisons, respectively located in Egypt’s Alexandria and Beheira provinces.

Ezzat Ghoneim, director of the Egyptian Coordination for Rights and Freedoms, a local rights NGO, said the executed individuals had been convicted for taking part in alleged acts of violence in the city of Al-Arish in the northern Sinai Peninsula following Egypt’s 2013 military coup.

Military prosecutors had accused the defendants of “targeting military personnel” and “possessing illegal weapons” -- charges the defendants had denied in court.

Last month, a military court of cassation dismissed an appeal lodged by the defendants’ lawyers against their conviction in 2015.