Statement
Thursday, 10th October, 2019
London – Brussels – Paris – Istanbul
The human rights organizations participating in the “Stop the Executions in Egypt” campaign, who also signed this statement, affirm that the death penalty today – and with the increasing political conflicts and security unrest in Egypt – has become a mean of the regime to eliminate any peaceful political action.
As actual practices, whether legislative, judicial or executive, pose a grave danger, and a clear breach of all international conventions ratified by Egypt. The signatory organizations followed up most of the political cases with death sentences – whether they already were carried out or still under execution – and ensured that fair trial standards were virtually non-existent.
There is no doubt that the right to life is an inherent right, confirmed by all laws and religions, as unequivocally affirmed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. However, the death penalty is a flagrant violation of this right, so most countries have either abolished the penalty or categorically stopped its execution in order to preserve and protect the right to life. However, this trend has not found a way so far in Egypt, and the death penalty is also accompanied by a legislative and judicial defects similar to legal chaos, which deprived dozens of civilians of their lives, that were lost in an almost complete absence of justice and its components and tools.
The undersigned organizations confirm that the death penalty remains one of the most serious penalties that we should abolish, and work to replace it with other sanctions commensurate with the global trend rejecting that punishment, in line with international conventions ratified by Egypt.
The impact of the death penalty, not only harms the convicts, but it reaches their children, spouses and relatives, and causes them a heavy psychological burden, and a serious societal challenge, both for their view of society or society’s view of them.
The International Day Against the Death Penalty comes as the Egyptian government carried out the execution of 52 civilians, while 84 civilians are awaiting execution at any moment after their verdicts became final in the absence of fair trial standards during a turbulent political period. According to Transparency International’s Judicial Integrity and Rule of Law Index, Egypt has been at the bottom rankings for the past five years, underscoring the serious imbalance committed against the justice system.
While denouncing the Egyptian authorities for the continuation of this approach, which is contrary to international conventions and its system, which seeks to abolish that punishment, the undersigned organizations affirm a number of demands that must be acted upon:
1. A moratorium on executions and a review of the penalty and trial in accordance with the Constitution and international conventions.
2. Ratification of the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on the abolition of the death penalty.
3. The Egyptian Government’s commitment, if still insiste
on this punishment, to Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as stipulated in its second paragraph, that this penalty should be imposed exclusively for the most serious crimes according to a competent court, a natural judge, and a fair trial procedure that complies with international conventions.
4. Work to activate the first UN General Assembly resolution in 2007, calling for a moratorium on the death penalty, opening a broad public and official debate on the death penalty and its feasibility, considering replacing it with other sanctions, and working to reform the legislative and judicial system, towards protecting Right to life.
5. Reconsider the recommendations of the experts of the United Nations and the African Commission regarding the death sentences in Egypt.
Participating Organizations:
• AFD International – Brussels.
• Justice for Human Rights (JHR) – Istanbul.
• El Shehab For Human Rights (SHR) – London.
• Salam International Organization For Protection of Human Rights (SPH) – London.
• Organistion of European ALliance ( AED ) – Paris.
• Human Rights Monitor (HRM) – London.