Rights groups raise alarm as Egypt executes 17
Cairo has executed 17 men convicted of committing a 2013 attack on a police station after human rights activists say they were tortured to confess.
CAIRO — Egypt executed 17 prisoners April 26 and 28. They had been convicted of committing 2013 attack in the town of Kerdasa in Giza governorate, where gunmen stormed a police station and killed 11 policemen.
The executions prompted a number of local and international human rights organizations to issue condemnation and calls for an end to the death penalty in Egypt.
In August 2013, after police dispersed a sit-in held by Muslim Brotherhood supporters in Rabaa al-Adawiya Square, a number of gunmen stormed the Kerdasa police station. The department chief was among the 11 officers killed. Shortly after, security forces arrested dozens of residents of the area, accusing them of being behind the attack.
After the execution of the first nine defendants on April 26, Amnesty International stated April 26, “Today’s execution of nine people is a chilling demonstration of the Egyptian authorities’ disregard for the right to life and their obligations under international law.”
