Six Men Executed After "Unfair" Trial

[Winged Isis]

Beirut: Egypt has executed six men convicted of carrying out an attack on a checkpoint in the Sinai that killed several soldiers, despite evidence at least three of the accused were already in detention at the time of the assault.

Human rights groups called for a retrial for the six men after the death sentence was upheld on March 24, describing the military court processes as "flawed" and "grossly unfair".

They say the death penalty is now the Egyptian authorities' "favourite tool" for purging political opposition in a country that remains deeply divided since the ouster of former dictator Hosni Mubarak in February 2011.

The six men who were executed – state media reported they were hanged – were part of a group of nine convicted of participating in attacks on security forces and killing two officers in 2014, Human Rights Watch said.

Two of the nine men were sentenced to life in prison. Another man was tried and convicted in his absence and sentenced to death.

The men alleged they had been tortured into confessing to being members of the terrorist organisation Ansar Beit al-Maqdis. One of the defendants, Khaled Farag, told his father he was blindfolded and tortured by his interrogators, suffering a broken left thigh and a serious fracture of his left knee.

Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, which pledged allegiance to Islamic State in November 2014 and is now known as "Sinai Province", has claimed responsibility for many attacks, including suicide bombings and beheadings, that have resulted in the deaths of dozens of Egyptian soldiers and civilians, mostly in the northern Sinai province that borders Israel and Gaza.

Three of the men, Mohamed Bakry, Hani Amer and Mohamed Afifi, could not have participated in the attacks because they had been arrested in late 2013 and were in detention at the time, their lawyer, Ahmed Helmy, said.

Mr Helmy told Human Rights Watch Egyptian authorities sent all three men to Azouli Prison, an unregistered detention facility inside Al Galaa army base in Ismailia following their arrest.

Their executions came a day after an Egyptian court sentenced the country's first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, to death for his role in a prison escape in 2011.


More at:
http://www.smh.com.au/world/egypt-execu ... h3shl.html

[Major Thom]

We have prisoners in the UK that commit crimes in the UK while being incarcerated, they get outsiders to do it for them, and arrange it during prison visits. Just a thought!!