After Egypt executions, rights NGO urges torture probe

By Meryem Goktas</p> <p>ISTANBUL (AA) – A U.K.-based rights group is calling for an investigation into claims that nine men recently executed by the Egyptian authorities — in connection with a 2015 assassination — were tortured into confessing to the crime. </p> <p>In an interview with Anadolu Agency, Salma Ashraf, head of Human Rights Monitor, a London-based rights NGO, said that allegations the men were tortured had been ignored by the court that condemned them to death.</p> <p>&quot;Allegations of torture were being made,” she said. “All of them [later] denied their confessions, stating that they had been made under torture.&quot;</p> <p>But according to Ashraf, the claims were never investigated — either by the court or by international organs.</p> <p>&quot;They were subjected to severe torture and electrocution until one of them lost his memory and could not even recognize his family,&quot; Ashraf said, noting that all nine of those executed had been under 30 years old.</p> <p>“This case not only violates international law, but also [Egyptian] law,” she said. “There should have been a stay of execution until the court could decide on the lawyers’ request for a retrial.”</p> <p>“But the decision was made to end their lives and the court never upheld the law,” she lamented.</p> <p>“In Egypt, law is manipulated by the security apparatus, which orders the killing of any force that might stand up against the dictatorship,” she said.</p> <p>Ashraf added: “With such a degraded system of law, these executions will only continue.”</p> <p>“They will continue as long as the world remains silent and does nothing,” she asserted. “They will continue as long as the perpetrators aren’t held accountable; as long as the regime is given international legitimacy.”</p> <p>Calling on the international community to act against ongoing rights violations in Egypt, Ashraf said that such breaches should be monitored “to ensure they are brought to an end”.</p> <p>She went on to call for an &quot;international tribunal&quot; to look into Egypt’s frequent resort to capital punishment.</p> <p>“Restrictions should be imposed on this [Egyptian] government until human rights are applied and protected,” she said.</p> <p>Human Rights Monitor is devoted to documenting rights violations in the Middle East with a special focus on Egypt.</p> <p>“We strive to shed light on rights violations committed by the state against civilians,” Ashraf said. “And we apply all possible means of imposing pressure on these governments.”</p> <p>Last week, the Egyptian authorities executed nine young men convicted earlier of assassinating an Egyptian prosecutor-general in 2015. </p> <p>Hisham Barakat was killed in June 2015 in Cairo when a car bomb went off near his convoy. </p> <p>Amnesty International said the men were convicted on terrorism charges after &quot;grossly unfair trials&quot; marred by alleged torture.</p> <p>The death sentences were carried out despite calls by numerous international rights groups for a stay of execution. </p> <p>Earlier this month, the Egyptian authorities executed another six people in two separate cases for the murder of a judge’s son and a senior police officer. </p> <p>Egypt has remained beset by violence and turmoil since the army deposed Mohamed Morsi, the country's first freely elected president, in a 2013 coup.