Egyptian rights groups decry triple execution

<p>By Tasnem Elnekheely</p> <p>ISTANBUL (AA) – Three Egyptian human rights groups on Friday criticized the execution this week of three people convicted of killing a judge's son in 2014.</p> <p>The rights groups voiced their condemnation at a press conference held in Istanbul and organized by the Adalah Center for Rights and Freedoms, El-Shehab for Human Rights (SHR), and the International Federation for Human Rights.</p> <p>Speaking at the event, SHR Director Khalaf Bayoumi said the Egyptian regime had implemented the death penalties despite multiple requests by rights groups for a stay of execution.</p> <p>Egyptian law grants the president the authority to pardon convicts facing death sentences.</p> <p>According to Bayoumi, the death sentences handed down against the three men had been issued “by a court lacking competence”.</p> <p>In a joint statement, the three rights groups called for the establishment of a fact-finding committee tasked with examining alleged extrajudicial killings “and holding those responsible to account”.</p> <p>On Thursday, the Egyptian authorities executed Ahmed Maher al-Hindawi, Abdul Hamid Metwalli and Al-Motazbillah Ghanem.</p> <p>The trio was first convicted in 2014 for allegedly killing the son of Mahmoud al-Sayyid al-Murli, a judge from Egypt’s Mansoura province.</p> <p>Two years later, a Mansoura criminal court sentenced the three to death, along with two others sentenced in absentia.</p>