Egyptian rights groups decry triple execution

By Tasnem Elnekheely

ISTANBUL (AA) - Three Egyptian human rights groups on Friday criticized the execution this week of three people convicted of killing a judge's son in 2014.

The rights groups voiced their condemnation at a press conference held in Istanbul and organized by the Adalah Center for Rights and Freedoms, El-Shehab for Human Rights (SHR), and the International Federation for Human Rights.

Speaking at the event, SHR Director Khalaf Bayoumi said the Egyptian regime had implemented the death penalties despite multiple requests by rights groups for a stay of execution.

Egyptian law grants the president the authority to pardon convicts facing death sentences.

According to Bayoumi, the death sentences handed down against the three men had been issued “by a court lacking competence”.

In a joint statement, the three rights groups called for the establishment of a fact-finding committee tasked with examining alleged extrajudicial killings “and holding those responsible to account”.

On Thursday, the Egyptian authorities executed Ahmed Maher al-Hindawi, Abdul Hamid Metwalli and Al-Motazbillah Ghanem.

The trio was first convicted in 2014 for allegedly killing the son of Mahmoud al-Sayyid al-Murli, a judge from Egypt’s Mansoura province.

Two years later, a Mansoura criminal court sentenced the three to death, along with two others sentenced in absentia.