Coalition Letter on Imminent Executions in Egypt
Dear Chairman Menendez and Ranking Member Risch:
We the undersigned 11 organizations write to you today regarding the death penalty crisis in Egypt. As organizations advocating for human rights in Egypt and around the world, we are particularly concerned about the imminent execution of twelve men unjustly sentenced to death in a politically motivated mass trial in relation to their alleged involvement in a sit-in protest at Raba’a Square in 2013. In line with the Biden administration’s declared commitment to put human rights at the center of its foreign policy, the United States must urgently engage with the Egyptian authorities to urge them to halt these executions.
In recent years, death sentences and executions have increased drastically in Egypt, where authorities executed a record of at least 152 people in 2020. The crisis has carried into 2021, with at least 66 executed this year, including 17 people during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Dozens of those executed since 2013 have been tried in mass trials without due process, and many of these individuals were executed in secret, without prior notice to their families and lawyers as required in Egypt’s prison regulations.
Thousands more – including the twelve men in the Raba’a case – have been sentenced to death following deeply flawed mass trials, with minors also amongst those tried and sentenced to death.
*Note: This letter was also sent to the Chair and Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee; Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs; and House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs.
