Arab Republic of Egypt (Egypt).

Africa (Northern Africa).

Arabic.

107.7 million.

Retentionist.

2023.

Hanging.

“Any person who is sentenced to capital punishment shall be hanged.”

Egypt does not release official figures on death sentences or acquittals, commutations, exonerations, or reversals. Amnesty International indicates that at least 356 people were sentenced to death in Egypt in 2021, an increase of 34% from 2020. In 2022, Amnesty International reported that executions in Egypt fell by 71%, but death sentences, of which there were 538, increased by 51%.

No.

There is no explicit mention of capital punishment in the Constitution. The Constitution of Egypt highlights that “every citizen has the right to live at present and in the future” and that every person has the right to a safe life. The Constitution provides that the principles of Shariah law are the “principal source of legislation,” so principles that permit or limit the use of the death penalty under Shariah law may be influential in determining whether a particular application of the death penalty in Egypt violates fundamental rights.

Aggravated Murder.

Egypt’s Penal Code provides for the death penalty for premeditated murder.

Murder.

Premeditated murder, including by poisoning with other drugs or other substances, is punishable by death.

Other Offenses Resulting in Death.

Non-premeditated killing such as hooliganism is punishable by death if associated with another felony crime. 

Bearing false witness in a capital case is punishable by death if it results in the execution of an innocent person.

The intentional killing of a public official or employee charged with the enforcement of narcotic laws is punishable by death.

Arson that results in the death of persons present in the building at the outbreak of the fire is punishable by death. Gang robbery or intimidation resulting in death may be death-eligible.

Terrorism-Related Offenses Resulting in Death.

Establishing, founding, organizing, or running an illegal organization can be punished by death if it results in death.  Hijacking that results in death is subject to the death penalty. One who “arrests a person in other than the cases authorized by the laws and regulations” or holds a person hostage in order to influence or benefit from the actions of public authorities can be punished by death if the act results in death. If it results in death, it is a capital offense for a person to use force, violence, or threat of force or violence to resist authorities addressing certain felonies and misdemeanors internally prejudicial to the government. Destruction of a government facility, utility, or place for public use, or using explosives is punishable by death. .

Terrorism-Related Offenses Not Resulting in Death.

Capital punishment is imposed on someone who engages in terrorist acts, or who organizes or runs an organization whose purpose is contrary to the constitution or other laws, if the organization engages in acts of terrorism. Forming or leading a gang that attacks a community of civilians or resists with arms public authorities enforcing the law is also a capital offense. In 2015, President al-Sisi issued a Counter-Terrorism Law (Law No. 94), later approved by the House of Representatives in 2016, ostensibly to fight Islamic militants. This gives courts the power to impose the death penalty on anyone who establishes or leads a “terrorist group.” Organizations fear that this law would allow capital punishment for peaceful groups that do not engage in violence.

According to local experts, under Article 26 of the Arms and Ammunitions Law No. 394 of 1954[ , as amended by Law No. 165 of 1981, possessing or acquiring arms, ammunition or explosives for the inchoate purpose of disrupting the government, public security or peace, national unity, constitutional principles or the law is punishable by death. Similarly, Article 102(A) of the Penal Code, as amended by Law No. 21 of 2018, allows for the death penalty for anyone who obtains, possesses, imports, or manufactures firecrackers, explosive materials, or similar material with a terrorist purpose.

Rape Not Resulting in Death.

Kidnapping of a "female" aggravated by rape (including statutory rape) is punishable by death.

Kidnapping Not Resulting in Death.

Kidnapping of a female aggravated by rape (including statutory rape) is punishable by death. Kidnapping a child and committing “the crime of sexual intercourse or sexual aggression” against the child is punishable by death or life imprisonment.
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Drug Trafficking Not Resulting in Death.

Trafficking, manufacturing, purchasing, selling, delivering, or transporting any narcotic substance with the intention of trading may be punished by death. Inducing another person to take any narcotic substance is punishable by death. In 2019, the Egyptian Cabinet approved amendments to extend the provisions of Law No. 182 of 1960 Concerning Narcotics Combating, Regulating Their Use and Trafficking, including death sentences, to “synthetic drugs with an anesthetic or harmful effect on mind, body or psychological and neurological functioning” as well.

Drug Possession.

Drug possession is punishable by death if drugs are held for trade.
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Treason.

A variety of treasonous offenses are punishable by death, such as: intentionally undermining Egypt’s independence, unity, or territorial integrity; fighting against Egypt or assisting Egypt’s enemies or inciting the same; demoralizing the troops or people; undermining the defense of Egypt in time of war; breaching defense contracts with the aim of harming the armed forces or national defense at time of war; interference with the constitutional order; armed attempts to overthrow the government; or other offenses.  Treason is ultimately a vaguely-defined offense in Egypt, and Article 83(A) suggests that capital punishment could apply to any offense in Part 1 or 2 (respectively, “Felonies and Misdemeanors Prejudicial to the Public Interest and their Penalties” and “Felonies and Misdemeanors Internally Prejudicial to the Government”) Book 2 (of the Penal Code if the offense was conducted with an intent to affect Egypt’s “independence, unity, or the integrity of its territories” or to “assist the enemy or harm the armed forces’ military operations.” For example, under Article 83(A), cumulative with Article 98(C), capital punishment could be inflicted on a person who founds an unauthorized organization if a court determines there was an intent to affect Egypt’s “independence, unity, or the integrity of its territories,” or cumulatively with Article 98(F), Article 83(A) could apply the death penalty for using religion to propagate “by talk or in writing, or any other method, extremist thoughts with the aim of instigating sedition and division or disdaining and contempt of any of the heavenly religions or the sects belonging thereto, or prejudicing national unity.” .

Espionage.

Articles 77(B) and 80 of the Penal Code provide that communication with foreign countries and disclosure of defense secrets is punishable by death.

Military Offenses Not Resulting in Death.

Reports indicate that under Articles 130-154 of the Martial Law No. 25 of 1966[JL1] , a number of military offenses not resulting in death may be punishable by death, such as desertion, insubordination, looting, dereliction of duty, ill-treatment of the wounded, assisting the enemy and abuse of power.

Other Offenses Not Resulting in Death.

Reports indicate that some of the offenses under Articles 130-154 of the Martial Law No. 25 of 1966, such as ill-treatment of the wounded, sedition, looting, and desertion, might be subject to the death penalty. News reports indicate that Parliament approved a law in June 2017 that enforces strict punitive measures against organ traffickers, including aggravated imprisonment and the death penalty if an illegal or forced operation results in the death of the victim.

No. Under the Penal Code, “if the conditions of the crime…necessitate the judge’s lenity, the penalty may be changed" from capital punishment to life imprisonment or aggravated imprisonment (incarceration in a prison facility). This means that even where the law imposes the death penalty, a judge may impose a different penalty if lenity is required.

Comments.

None.

Individuals Below Age 18 at Time of Crime.

According to Egypt’s Child Law (Law No. 126 of 2008), “any child who did not exceed the age of 18 at the time of committing the crime may not be sentenced to death, life imprisonment or maximum security imprisonment.” However, despite the Child Law’s creation of juvenile courts, “adult” courts have jurisdiction if the child is over 15 years old, has an adult co-defendant, and the circumstances require that the minor and their co-defendant(s) be tried together. Thus, Egypt’s use of mass trials has led to numerous minors being sentenced to death, though there is no evidence that Egypt has ever executed a child. In one case, a 16-year-old child, Sutan Gomaa, was sentenced to death as one of the 183 Muslim Brotherhood supporters who were convicted in a Minya court. After sentencing, the judge discovered his age and acquitted him. We have not been able to find this law, but sources state that Article 8 Bis(1) of the Code of Military Justice (Law No. 25 of 1966) , however, does allow “military tribunals to try juveniles if they are accompanied by an adult who is subject to military jurisdiction, including military personnel or civilians in military zones.” Therefore, the law does not always prevent those under age 18 at the time the crime was committed from receiving the death penalty.

Pregnant Women.

Under Article 476 of the Criminal Procedure Code, a pregnant woman cannot be executed until two months after her child’s birth. However, Egypt has ratified the Arab Charter on Human Rights, which forbids the execution of “a nursing mother within two years from the date on which she gave birth.”

Women With Small Children.

Egypt has ratified the Arab Charter on Human Rights, which forbids the execution of “a nursing mother within two years from the date on which she gave birth.” However, Article 476 of Egypt’s Criminal Procedure Code only prohibits the execution of a woman until two months after her child’s birth.

Mentally Ill.

Egypt’s Penal Code stipulates that “[w]hoever suffers, at the time of committing the crime, from psychological or mental disorder” that leads to “losing consciousness or the faculty of choice” cannot be held criminally liable. While someone whose “psychological or mental disorder” leads to “reducing consciousness or the faculty of choice” can still be held liable, the court shall consider one’s condition when determining the penalty period.

Rape Not Resulting in Death.

In October and November 2020, two men were executed for rape.

Rape of Child Not Resulting in Death.

In December 2019, a man was executed for raping a 20-month-old baby, causing her severe bleeding.

Terrorism-Related Offenses Not Resulting in Death.

In 2022, three people were executed in the “Soldiers of Egypt case” for allegedly attacking security forces in 2014 and 2015. It is unclear whether these attacks resulted in deaths. Like others executed in 2022, reports indicate that those executed were tortured to extract confessions. 

In October 2020, two men who had been convicted in a mass trial known as the “Alexandria Library events” were executed for involvement in political violence. Ten other men were executed in October 2020 after being convicted in the “Agnad Masr” case involving attacks on officials and public property. It is unclear whether any of these men were convicted for other crimes. 

In December 2019, Egypt executed one person for joining a banned terrorist group. It is unclear whether he was charged with any other offense.

Terrorism-Related Offenses Resulting in Death.

In 2022, four people were executed after being convicted in the “Helwan Microbus case” in which they allegedly joined a banned group and killed eight police officers in Helwan in 2016. Reports indicate that those executed were tortured and forcibly disappeared in order to elicit confessions. 

In April 2021, nine men were executed for their part in an attack on the Kerdasa Police Station in which 13 police officers died. 

In February 2020, Egypt executed eight people, who were among the 17 defendants sentenced to death by a military court for the attacks on three Coptic churches and a police checkpoint. In March, Egypt also executed Hisham al-Ashmawy, who was convicted of terror attacks and assassination attempts against top officials. In October 2020, three men were executed in relation to political violence and the Rabaa sit-in in which 13 police officers died. 

In December 2019, Egypt executed two people who were convicted of terrorism-related charges for their involvement in an attack on a Coptic church and the Embassy of Niger, respectively. 

In December 2016, Adel Habara was executed on charges of terrorism and killing 25 police conscripts. He had received several death penalties in several different cases including forming a terrorist group and targeting police and army personnel. 

In May 2015, Egyptian authorities hanged six men convicted of killing soldiers and “terrorism" after a trial that gained notoriety for being “grossly unfair.”

Comments.

Egypt does not provide official information on the death penalty and shrouds cases in secrecy, but reports indicate that courts frequently impose the death penalty for political crimes – for example, Reprieve found that one quarter of the death sentences and executions since 2018 were related to political opposition often classified as terrorism – murder, and military offenses. Egyptian courts have used mass trials to issue one quarter of Egypt’s death sentences from 2018-2021.

Murder.

In June 2023, a man was executed for killing a fellow 21-year-old female student after she rejected his marriage proposal.

In August 2022, two men were executed for killing a woman during a robbery.

In May 2021, a monk convicted of killing Bishop Anba Epiphanius was executed. Law enforcement allegedly tortured him to obtain a confession. In July 2021, a 27-year-old engineering student was executed for killing two police officers and the attempted assassination of other officials. Authorities obtained his confession after two months of forced disappearance, extensive torture, and threats to his family. 

In February 2020, three men were executed for the murder of a police officer. In October 2020, 15 men were executed for murder in cases related to political violence. An additional 38 men and four women were executed in October and November 2020 for murder in regular criminal cases.

In 2019, more than 15 people were executed for murder. Three men were executed for murder of a police officer, three for murder of a judge’s son, and nine for the killing of a former public prosecutor. There is evidence in all three cases of the defendants being tortured before confessing to the murders. The nine men executed in February were among 28 men sentenced to death for the same charge during a mass trial. Also in 2019, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights reported that Egypt executed five people for killing a four-year-old girl after kidnapping her for ransom and three people for premeditated murder related to theft.

In 2018, a man was executed for killing an army officer with an automated weapon.

In 2017, a man was executed for the murder and rape of a five-year old girl.

In 2016, Amnesty International reported that eight women were executed in relation to offenses including murder. Thirty-five additional executions took place for crimes including but not limited to murder.

In March 2015, Amnesty International reported that three men and two women were executed for murder. A few days later, another man was executed in Borg Al Arab Prison in Alexandria for murder linked to political violence. In the following month, five men were executed for murder, theft, and weapons possession, but no additional details regarding their individual cases were available. In December 2015, one woman and four men were executed in Damanhour Prison for killing and theft.

In 2014, a man was hanged for murdering two women in a Cairo suburb.

On March 11, 2010, a man and woman were executed for killing the woman’s husband despite evidence that the woman had acted alone and in self-defense against her husband, who had beaten her repeatedly.

We have not found any significant published judicial decisions concerning the death penalty in Egyptian courts, likely because the government does not make judicial opinions or full case materials available to the public.

Egypt’s Constitution includes references to international human rights agreements and standards. The preamble of the Constitution discusses the importance of protecting human rights and freedoms and explicitly refers to the Constitution’s consistency with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Constitution reflects international human rights principles and standards in multiple provisions, stating that human dignity is a right, all forms of torture are a crime, and all citizens are equal before the law, regardless of religion, belief, sex, origin, race, color, language, disability, social class, political or geographical affiliation, or any other reason.


Multiple articles of the Constitution also specifically reference human rights standards. When discussing the police force, Article 206 requires that it comply with the duties set out in the Constitution and the law, and respects human rights and fundamental freedoms. Article 5 emphasizes that the political system is in part based on the respect for human rights and freedoms, and Article 24 requires that universities teach human rights and professional values.


Part III of the Constitution, “Public Rights, Freedoms, and Duties,” provides the most in-depth information regarding individual rights. Most notably referencing the influence of international human rights law agreements, Article 93 states that the Egypt shall be bound by its ratified the international human rights agreements, covenants and conventions and these agreements shall have the force of law after publication “in accordance with the prescribed conditions.”

According to Article 92 of the Constitution, individual citizens’ rights and freedoms “may not be suspended or reduced,” and no law that regulates these rights and freedoms may infringe on their substance and essence.
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Decisions and Observations of the U.N. Human Rights Committee


In its 2023 concluding observations, the U.N. Human Rights Committee ("Committee") expressed concerns about Egypt’s state of emergency, counter-terrorism measures, the death penalty, law enforcement’s excessive use of force, enforced disappearances, state use of torture, prison conditions, arbitrary detention, independence of the judiciary, intimidation of lawyers, and infringements of the rights to due process, fair trial, free expression, peaceful assembly, association, and participation in public affairs. Egypt’s “excessively broad and vague definitions of terrorism” combined with limited recognition of fundamental human rights has led to persecution of government critics and death sentences without due process.

Specifically regarding the death penalty, the Committee “remains deeply concerned” that Egypt uses the death penalty at an increasingly high rate for a large number of crimes, particularly non-violent crimes that do not constitute the “most serious crimes” within the meaning of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Committee also expressed concerns about death sentences based on confessions extracted under duress and through torture, delivered during mass trials in military and Emergency State Security Courts – the latter without the possibility of appeal – imposed on children, and conducted in secret without notification or family visits. The Committee recommended that Egypt consider a moratorium with the goal of abolition of the death penalty, revise its legislation to limit the death penalty to the most serious crimes, and address the Committee’s other concerns about the implementation of the death penalty.

Decisions of Other U.N. Human Rights Bodies


In the 2019 Universal Periodic Review of Egypt, the U.N. High Commissioner of Human Rights noted that Egypt had violated international human rights law by executing nine men based on evidenced allegedly obtained under torture. Further, U.N. human rights experts asked Egypt to halt all executions, undertake a review of all death sentences, and consider a moratorium on the death penalty with a view toward abolition. The report also noted that on September 17, 2018, U.N. human rights experts criticized the mass trial in which 75 protesters were sentenced to death, stating that it constituted a violation of the protesters’ right to present evidence in their defense. Egypt responded that the death penalty was imposed only on the most serious crimes and that the government was following international standards in the application of the death penalty.


In its 2014 Universal Periodic Review of human rights in Egypt, Egypt did not support the Human Rights Council’s recommendation to move towards the abolition of the death penalty, or consider introducing a moratorium on the death penalty. This was consistent with Egypt’s response in 2010 to similar recommendations. In 2014 Egypt emphasized that capital punishment was only applied in rare cases for the most severe crimes.The Human Rights Council’s Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism reported, pursuant to his 2009 Mission to Egypt, that Egypt’s counter-terrorism laws are in serious violation of international standards regarding the death penalty. Death-eligible crimes are too vaguely defined to be limited to serious acts of violence or terror, and the death penalty may be applied for inchoate crimes such as leadership of an organization that the government defines as aiming to commit such vaguely defined crimes. The Rapporteur’s description of “terrorist” offenses in Egypt amounted, arguably, to a description that would include civil disobedience. The Rapporteur stressed the importance of limiting application of the death penalty to the most serious crimes and expressed concern that death sentences pronounced by the Emergency Supreme State Security Courts (which adjudicate on terrorism offenses) are not subject to appeal.  Decisions of military courts adjudicating on terrorism offenses are subject only to cassation.  In both cases, the restriction of the right to appeal undermines the right to a fair trial.

Egypt is party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Committee on the Rights of the Child in its 2001 Concluding Observations observed that those under 18 are considered “children,” expressed concern that those aged 18 to 20 may not receive the same protections as those afforded to those under 18, and did not express any concern that individuals in Egypt may be executed for crimes committed while under the age of 18. In its July 2011 Concluding Observations report, however, the Committee on the Rights of the Child urged Egypt to not issue death sentences to minors as the Committee had reported at least one case of an individual under 18 years of age when he committed a crime being sentenced to death. Moreover, the Committee noted that Egypt amended art. 111 of the Child Law (of 2008) which prohibits children under age 18 from receiving the death penalty and welcomed this amendment, but remained concerned about death sentences being issued to minors. The Committee further urged Egypt to investigate the case of the individual sentenced to death for a crime he committed as a minor.  
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The Human Rights Council, pursuant to its 2010 Universal Periodic Review of human rights in Egypt, recommended that Egypt restrict application of the death penalty to the most serious crimes; Egypt supported this recommendation. Egypt did not support the Council’s recommendation that it pursue a moratorium on executions, commute all death sentences and abolish the death penalty.

The Council’s Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism reported, pursuant to his 2009 Mission to Egypt, that Egypt’s counter-terrorism laws are in serious violation of international standards regarding the death penalty. Death-eligible crimes are too vaguely defined to be limited to serious acts of violence or terror, and the death penalty may be applied for inchoate crimes such as leadership of an organization that the government defines as aiming to commit such vaguely defined crimes. The Rapporteur’s description of “terrorist” offenses in Egypt amounted, arguably, to a description that would include civil disobedience. The Rapporteur stressed the importance of limiting application of the death penalty to the most serious crimes and expressed concern that death sentences pronounced by the Emergency Supreme State Security Courts (which adjudicate on terrorism offenses) are not subject to appeal. Decisions of military courts adjudicating on terrorism offenses are subject only to cassation. In both cases, the restriction of the right to appeal undermines the right to a fair trial.

The Egyptian Constitution mandates that “all those whose freedoms have been restricted” have the right to “immediately” contact their lawyer and cannot be questioned until their lawyer is present. A lawyer will be appointed if the person under questioning has no lawyer. The Constitution requires the presence of a lawyer in order to bring an accused to trial. The Code of Criminal Procedure also prescribes that an attorney appointed by the prosecution or the court must represent the defendant or appoint another counsel on his or her behalf.

We did not find any requirement that Egypt provide counsel at state expense for appeals.

Indigent defendants have restricted choice of lawyers, as courts appoint lawyers at random from a list of lawyers and thus have no preparation. Often, the also lack relevant experience. The Court of Cassation has held that a lawyer’s preparedness to represent a defendant is within the discretion of the lawyer, barring a defendant’s claim of misrepresentation for lack of preparedness.

All criminal courts are required to refer death sentences to the Grand Mufti, but the opinion of the Grand Mufti is not binding and is not public. Following the criminal courts’ issue of death sentence, a defendant has 60 days to file an appeal before the Court of Cassation that can uphold or vacate the death sentence.

However, new legislation in 2017 curtailed the general appellate process. President el-Sisi announced in 2015 that he planned to shorten or circumvent the appeals process in order to allow for faster executions in pursuit of countering terrorism. In 2017, the House of Representatives passed amendments regarding expedited criminal procedures for terrorist entities and appeals processes. Egyptian and international NGOs report that these amendments limit the appeals before the Court of Cassation, bypassing two stages of appeal. Specifically, the Court of Cassation is no longer required to remit a capital case to a lower court for a retrial or rehearing. As a result, these amendments abolish a key fair trial guarantee and expedites the implementation of death sentences.

The Minister of Justice must inform the President of any final death sentence. The President then confirms the sentence, pardons the offender, or commutes or reduces the sentence. The President may also permit the sentence to stand by expressing no position within 14 days of receiving the final sentence for consideration.  For offenses tried in ordinary courts, it is possible that a death sentence is commuted to life imprisonment, but not to a term of years.

A criminal court must solicit the opinion of the Grand Mufti before imposing a death sentence.  The Grand Mufti is Egypt’s leading cleric, who is responsible for issuing religious edicts uninfluenced by the secular government. Courts may deviate from his opinion and other scholars of Islam may criticize him.

There is no jury system in Egypt.

Egyptian authorities use arbitrary detention and unjust prosecution to repress political dissent, particularly freedoms of expression, association, peaceful assembly, and religion. In 2022-2023, Amnesty International reported that criminal justice and law enforcement authorities committed torture, denied health care, failed to prevent sexual and gender-based violence, and imposed death sentences and executions despite flagrant human rights and due process violations.


Egypt was in a long-term state of emergency, with the 12th extension effective on April 10, 2017. Though President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced on October 25, 2021, that he would not extend the state of emergency, trials already scheduled in the Emergency State Security Courts (“ESSC”), which have been criticized for imposing death sentences in unfair trials, still proceed. The state of emergency created an additional threat that those accused of capital crimes could be subjected arbitrarily to the jurisdiction of these unreviewable courts. Egypt’s government claimed that ESSC were used only in cases involving terrorism, national security, or major drug trafficking. However, in practice, Egypt defines terrorism and national security broadly.


Government interference in the judiciary has removed important safeguards against arbitrary death sentences. In April 2017, Parliament passed a law granting the President the power to appoint the most senior members of the justice system, removing that power from judicial councils, further undermining the independence of the judiciary. At the same time, Egypt amended its Code of Criminal Procedure to reduce the appeals process for death sentences.
In 2015, Egyptian courts handed down hundreds of death sentences and lengthy prison sentences after manifestly unfair mass trials and/or torture. The government also introduced a very restrictive new “anti-terrorism” law. This law defined terrorism extremely broadly and in vague terms, and gave the president increased power very similar to those granted during a state of emergency. According to Human Rights Watch, in 2016, police continued to arrest scores of people in relation to protests, many preemptively. Parliament also proposed a new law regulating the actions of NGOs that effectively ended human rights work in the country.


Even before the 2013 coup, Egypt was in continuous state of emergency, which was a significant factor in the 2011 uprising against former President Hosni Mubarak. With the commencement of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces’ (“SCAF”) rule in early 2011 and the subsequent chaos, the Egyptian military government also amended the Penal Code to increase the penalties for crimes such as “hooliganism, terrorizing and thuggery,” including the death penalty. In July 2012, Human Rights Watch reported that with the continuation of SCAF rule, Egyptians have lost fundamental human rights, and suffered increasing injustice, including repressing freedom of speech and expression, an unjust judicial system, and more severe penalties under the Emergency Law.

There have been a substantial number of changes in the application of the death penalty in Egypt over the last 10 years. In general, the number of annual executions, death sentences, and mass trials has risen dramatically since the 2013 overthrow of the democratically elected government. Since 2014, multiple rights organizations and UN human rights experts have expressed outrage regarding mass trials and resulting death sentences, stating that Egypt is violating its obligations under international human rights law. Specifically, mass sentences violate Egypt’s obligation to due process and fair trial guarantees.

After leading the 2013 coup, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi became president. In 2017, he spearheaded amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure limiting the appellate process of the Court of Cassation. Though the reported number of executions varies, Amnesty International found that in 2020 Egypt reached its highest number of yearly recorded executions. Annual execution numbers decreased somewhat in 2021 and 2022, but the number of people sentenced to death each year remained in the hundreds. In 2021, at least eight women were executed.

Egypt consistently votes against the U.N. General Assembly’s resolution to impose a moratorium on the use of the death penalty,  objecting on the basis that the death penalty is “an important deterring element in the context of the most serious crimes.” However, the Human Rights Committee’s 2002 and 2023 Concluding Observations, the report to the Human Rights Council by the Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms while Countering Terrorism and the 2019 Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review indicate that Egypt has resisted legal restriction of the death penalty to the most serious crimes. While claiming to support such restriction, Egypt broadened the application of the death penalty for vaguely-defined terrorist offenses not resulting in death.   Moreover, the vague language in Egypt’s terrorism laws and the President’s new ability to assign capital trials to an unreviewable court heightens the threat to protections against arbitrariness, unfair trials and inhuman treatment or punishment. .

The Criminal Procedure Code does not specify where prisoners sentenced to death must be held, only that they are sent to a prison as ordered by the Public Prosecution. Former prisoners have revealed that at least five prisons — Tora Maximum Security (more commonly known as al-Aqrab or Scorpion) Prison, Abu Zaabal Prison, Liman Tora Prison, Tora Investigation Prison, and the Minya Prison Complex — housing death-sentenced prisoners. It has also been reported that Natrun Valley’s Prison holds at least 16 death row prisoners in its execution ward.

The Criminal Procedure Code allows executions to be carried out “within the premises of the prison or in any other concealed place based on the written request of the Attorney General.” A comparative study of Egypt’s prisons before and after the January 25, 2011, revolution, found that there were 13 prisons where death sentences could be carried out. In 2017, 15 militants convicted for the attack on army forces in North Sinai in 2013 were executed in the Prison of Wadi Al Natrun and Prison of Burj al-Arab.

Prison conditions are generally poor, with inmates not allowed to have basic necessities for hygiene and forced to sleep in overcrowded prisons without a bed or a mattress. In 2017, the New York Times reported that Egypt’s prisons were filled to triple their capacity due to the significant increase in the number of political prisoners.  The overcrowding led to building of 16 more prisons. The UN Committee against Torture has expressed concerns about systemic torture in Egyptian prisons and police stations.

Death row inmates are typically isolated from the general prisoners and held in solitary cells that are 1.5m by 2m without a toilet or adequate lighting or ventilation.  Death-sentenced prisoners are only allowed to leave their cells for 15 minutes per day.

Former prisoners have revealed that at least five prisons — Tora Maximum Security (more commonly known as al-Aqrab or Scorpion) Prison, Abu Zaabal Prison, Liman Tora Prison, Tora Investigation Prison, and the Minya Prison Complex — place those sentenced to death in solitary confinement until the prisoners’ sentences were repealed or commuted, or until execution. Inmates on death row in Burj al-Arab Prison have been held in solitary cells, and an inmate in al-Aqrab Prison was held in indefinite solitary confinement, which he protested with a hunger strike. In May 2018, in response to a report about solitary confinement in Egyptian prisons by Amnesty International, Egyptian authorities stated that all prisoners sentenced to death are placed in “individual rooms in maximum security prisons” in compliance with Article 787 of the Manual of Working Procedures in Prisons. 

Al-Abaadiya Prison also has cells where death row prisoners are incarcerated, and inmates of these cells have complained of the deteriorating conditions and inhumane treatment. 

The cells in Tora Maximum Security (al-Aqrab or Scorpion) Prison are extremely small (3.8 square meters) and hold multiple prisoners at the same time, with raised concrete platforms as beds. Reports indicate that authorities in Tora Maximum Security Prison, also known as “Scorpion,” do not provide medical care when needed, possibly resulting in preventable inmate deaths. The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, an association of Egyptian lawyers, found that abuse and neglect of medical and health care are common, and prisoners are not transferred to hospitals when needed or in some cases are returned back to prison without having received treatment. Authorities of Tora Prison have prohibited prisoners from communicating with their families. Tora prisoners considered opponents of the government are regularly tortured into confessions without meaningful access to a lawyer. In 2019, 16 death row inmates in the execution ward of Natrun Valley’s Prison complained of the deteriorating conditions of this prison, including lack of hygiene in the cells, overflowing sewage, foul odors, and skin and chest infections. Natrun Valley’s death row inmates also complained of mistreatment regarding visitation from their families, such as being handcuffed during visits and prison guards mistreating their visiting families.
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The Egypt Death Penalty Index (“EDPI”), a data compilation project with the goal of tracking every death sentence handed down by Egyptian courts between January 2011 and December 2020, documented nationals of Egypt-Spain, Ethiopia, Iraq, Jordan, Kurdistan, Lebanon (two), Libya (two), Pakistan (seven), Palestine (72), Sudan (three), the U.S. (one), and Yemen (five). The two Lebanese men and one Palestinian sentenced to death were categorized as serving a prison sentence after receiving a confirmed or preliminary death sentence. Notably, nearly all of the Palestinians and the one American were sentenced to death in absentia. All of the remaining foreign nationals had preliminary death sentences or death sentences confirmed by first instance courts.
In 2021, a court sentenced seven Pakistanis, one Iranian, and two Egyptians to death for smuggling two tons of heroin. In 2018, an Egyptian court recommended the execution of five Yemenis and eight Egyptians after convicting the defendants of smuggling heroin from Yemen to Egypt. In 2013, five foreign nationals including a British citizen were sentenced to death for smuggling drugs.

The Egypt Death Penalty Index (“EDPI”), a data compilation project with the goal of tracking every death sentence handed down by Egyptian courts between January 2011 and December 2020, documented nationals of Egypt-Spain, Ethiopia, Iraq, Jordan, Kurdistan, Lebanon (two), Libya (two), Pakistan (seven), Palestine (72), Sudan (three), the U.S. (one), and Yemen (five). The two Lebanese men and one Palestinian sentenced to death were categorized as serving a prison sentence after receiving a confirmed or preliminary death sentence. Notably, nearly all of the Palestinians and the one American were sentenced to death in absentia. All of the remaining foreign nationals had preliminary death sentences or death sentences confirmed by first instance courts.

In 2021, a court sentenced seven Pakistanis, one Iranian, and two Egyptians to death for smuggling two tons of heroin. In 2018, an Egyptian court recommended the execution of five Yemenis and eight Egyptians after convicting the defendants of smuggling heroin from Yemen to Egypt. In 2013, five foreign nationals including a British citizen were sentenced to death for smuggling drugs.

The Egypt Death Penalty Index (“EDPI”), a data compilation project with the goal of tracking every death sentence handed down by Egyptian courts between January 2011 and December 2020, documented 166 women and one 16-year-old girl sentenced to death in Egypt. The current legal status of the girl is “prison sentence following confirmed or preliminary death sentence.” Of the 166 women, 13 were executed, seven were acquitted, and seven had prison sentences following a confirmed or preliminary death sentence. Seventy-five had death sentences confirmed by the court of first instance and 57 had preliminary death sentences. Two women’s current legal statuses were listed as “execution imminent.” Overwhelmingly, women received death sentences for murder. Seven women were sentenced to death for storming government installations, three for terrorist acts, one for espionage, and one for rape.

Reprieve’s 2019 analysis of EDPI’s data found that women were executed at a higher rate than men and had their death sentences confirmed more often than men.

The Egypt Death Penalty Index documented death sentences to 17 juveniles from January 2011 to December 2020. Of the 17, three have the current legal status of “death sentence confirmed by first instance court.” The current legal statuses of four are categorized as having a “preliminary death sentence.” One juvenile is listed as “acquitted following confirmed or preliminary death sentence” and nine are listed as “prison sentence following confirmed or preliminary death sentence.”
In mass trials, judges sometimes hand down sentences to hundreds of people after only one hearing without considering whether juveniles were among the accused. Karim Hemeida Youssef, who was 17 at the time of the alleged offense, was sentenced to death on April 6, 2019, with six others on charges of arson and possession of weapons. Many juveniles have been detained in police stations or with adults, in violation of Article 12 of Law No. 126/2008.In 2013, there was a high-profile case involving a 17-year-old Irish national who faced the death penalty in a mass trial of 494 people. He was eventually acquitted and released in 2017 after four years in pre-trial detention.

The Egypt Death Penalty Index (“EDPI”), a data compilation project with the goal of tracking every death sentence handed down by Egyptian courts between January 2011 and December 2020, documented three ethnicities of the people sentenced to death: American (one), Arab (95), and Egyptian. However, the American was sentenced to death in absentia and thus is unlikely to be on death row.

There have been a substantial number of changes in the application of the death penalty in Egypt over the last 10 years. In general, the number of annual executions, death sentences, and mass trials has risen dramatically since the 2013 overthrow of the democratically elected government. Since 2014, multiple rights organizations and UN human rights experts have expressed outrage regarding mass trials and resulting death sentences, stating that Egypt is violating its obligations under international human rights law. Specifically, mass sentences violate Egypt’s obligation to due process and fair trial guarantees.

After leading the coup, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi became president. In 2017, he spearheaded amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure limiting the appellate process of the Court of Cassation. Though the reported number of executions varies, Amnesty International found that in 2020 Egypt reached its highest number of yearly recorded executions. Annual execution numbers decreased somewhat in 2021 and 2022, but the number of people sentenced to death each year remained in the hundreds. In 2021, at least eight women were executed.

Egypt consistently votes against the U.N. General Assembly’s resolution to impose a moratorium on the use of the death penalty,  objecting on the basis that the death penalty is “an important deterring element in the context of the most serious crimes.” However, the Human Rights Committee’s 2002 and 2023 Concluding Observations, the report to the Human Rights Council by the Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms while Countering Terrorism and the 2019 Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review indicate that Egypt has resisted legal restriction of the death penalty to the most serious crimes. While claiming to support such restriction, Egypt broadened the application of the death penalty for vaguely-defined terrorist offenses not resulting in death.  Moreover, the vague language in Egypt’s terrorism laws and the President’s new ability to assign capital trials to an unreviewable court heightens the threat to protections against arbitrariness, unfair trials and inhuman treatment or punishment.

Arab Coalition Against the Death Penalty (https://www.achrs.org) is not based in Egypt, but is a regional coalition composed of national coalitions from Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, and Yemen.

Reprieve
PO Box 72054
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http://www.reprieve.org.uk

The Egypt Justice Project (https://egyptjustice.com/) is an independent organization based in the United States that engages in the study of and educates the public about Egyptian jurisprudence and judiciary system. 

A few organizations do human rights monitoring in Egypt, but these organizations often lack independence and do not report regularly on the death penalty. The Arab Penal Reform Organization, an independent law firm NGO, publishes reports and contact information at http://www.aproarab.org/. Unfortunately, this organization has not published a report since 2008. Previously, No Military Trials for Civilians (en.nomiltrials.org) advocated against trying civilians in military courts, but their website is no longer active.

On May 29th, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi signed into law a controversial bill that had previously been approved by parliament that regulates the work of nongovernmental organizations. This law prohibits NGOs from carrying out field activities, conducting opinion polls, or cooperating with international bodies before obtaining required approvals. This has the potential to severely limit NGOs, paralyzing their work adding multiple administrative interferences.

The Egyptian government and courts do not typically make judicial opinions or full case materials available to the public. The website of the Court of Cassation (https://www.cc.gov.eg/?cat=5) may post some decisions, but most of the website (such as “the library” and “Criminal appeals”) requires login credentials.

However, the following websites offer Arabic versions of some caselaw:

National Women's Council: http://ncw.gov.eg/News/5608/%D8%A7%D8%B9%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%86/

Egypt Law Firm: egyptlawfirm.net.

We did not find a central repository of publicly accessible Egyptian law. However, the following websites offer Arabic versions of various laws:

National Women's Council: http://ncw.gov.eg/News/5608/%D8%A7%D8%B9%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%86/

Egypt Law Firm: egyptlawfirm.net

In addition, the UN, International Labor Organization (ILO.org), and RefWorld (refworld.org) offer some legislation, though not always the most current versions.

Reprieve, The death penalty in Egypt: Ten years after the uprising, https://reprieve.org/uk/2021/05/24/the-death-penalty-in-egypt-ten-year-after-the-uprising/, May 24, 2021. 

Egypt Death Penalty Index, 25 January 2011-December 2020, https://egyptdeathpenaltyindex.com/. 

The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, In the Name of the People: Third Annual Report on the Death Penalty in Egypt (2019) (2022 – English), https://eipr.org/en/publications/%E2%80%9C-name-people%E2%80%9D-eipr-publishes-its-third-annual-report-death-penalty-egypt, Sep. 7, 2022. 

The Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, Executions and the Death Penalty, https://timep.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/ExecutionstheDeathPenalty-2.pdf, Jun. 17, 2019.

The Advocates for Human Rights & World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, Report for the 64th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights: For the Commission’s Examination of Egypt’s 4th Periodic Report on the Implementation of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights in Egypt, https://www.theadvocatesforhumanrights.org/uploads/egypt_achpr_death_penalty_may_2019_final_2.pdf, May 14, 2019. 

Reprieve, Justice Denied: Mass Trials and the Death Penalty in Egypt, http://www.reprieve.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/2015_11_18_PUB-Egypt-Death-Penalty-Report.pdf, Nov. 2015. 

Penal Reform, Towards the Abolition of the Death Penalty and Its Alternative Sanctions in the Middle East and North Africa: Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia and Yemen, https://www.penalreform.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/MENA-research-report-on-death-penalty-and-alternative-sanctions-ENGLISH-March-20121.pdf, Mar. 2012.

For over a decade, Egypt has been in a constant state of flux. In 2011, former authoritarian President Hosni Mubarak and his government were overthrown along with the National Democratic Party as a result of Egypt’s uprisings as part of the Arab Spring. From November 2011 to January 2012, Egypt held free parliamentary elections in with significant public participation. As of Mubarak’s ouster, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (“SCAF”) took power, exercising absolute and infinite executive control. In of June 2012, the SCAF rejected the elections and held new elections in June 2012 in which Mohamed Morsi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, was elected President. The SCAF reinstituted Egypt’s state of emergency and has tried many thousands of civilians in military courts and Emergency State Security Courts (“ESSC”) in unfair trials lacking due process. This resulted in death sentences, children tried alongside adults, and even children sentenced to death. Mass trials and the death penalty – especially their use against children in military courts and ESSC – and the corresponding consistent violations of the rights to fair trial and due process, have increased since 2013 under President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.