adminCAIRO. — Egyptian authorities executed nine men convicted for the 2015 killing of the country’s chief prosecutor yesterday amid a surge in the number of death sentences carried out this month, lawyers, activists and officials said.
The men were among a group of 28 who were sentenced to death in the case in 2017.
Public prosecutor Hisham Barakat was killed in a car bomb attack on his convoy in the capital, Cairo.
Egypt blamed the Muslim Brotherhood and Gaza-based Hamas militants for the operation. Both groups denied having a role.
“These executions are a stark demonstration of the government’s increasing use of the death penalty,” said Amnesty International, which had appealed on Tuesday for authorities not to carry out the executions.
“Egyptian authorities must urgently halt this bloody execution spree which has seen them repeatedly putting people to death after grossly unfair trials in recent weeks.”
The latest executions took place two days after three policeman were killed in Cairo after cornering the alleged perpetrator of an attempted attack against a police patrol in the capital last Friday. — Reuters.
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