Egypt hangs nine for 2015 murder of top prosecutor

Hisham Barakat was killed in June 2015 in a car bomb attack in Cairo

Egypt hanged nine men on Wednesday for the

2015 assassination of the prosecutor general, judicial sources said, bringing to 15 the number of executions it has carried out this month.

Hisham Barakat was killed in June 2015 when a car bomb struck his convoy in Cairo following calls for attacks on the judiciary to avenge a crackdown on extremists.

The nine men hanged on Wednesday were among 28 people sentenced to death in 2017 for involvement in his murder.

Their death sentences were upheld in November by the Court of Cassation, which commuted the sentences of six others to life imprisonment. The sentences of the other defendants were not considered because they had been sentenced in absentia.

The hangings came despite an 11th-hour plea by human rights group Amnesty International on Tuesday for a stay of execution.

“There is no doubt that those involved in deadly attacks must be prosecuted and held accountable for their actions but executing prisoners or convicting people based on confessions extracted through torture is not justice,” said Amnesty’s North Africa campaigns director, Najia Bounaim.

“At least six men have already been executed earlier this month after unfair trials. Instead of stepping up executions the Egyptian authorities should take steps to abolish the death penalty once and ties pointed the finger at members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood of ousted President Muhammad Mursi.

Since Mursi’s overthrow by thenarmy chief and now-President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in 2013, Egypt has struggled to quell a militant insurgency and cracked down on extremists who backed him.

Hundreds of Mursi supporters have been sentenced to death, while the former president and top Brotherhood figures have also faced trial.

The Muslim Brotherhood was outlawed and branded a terrorist organization in December 2013, just months after Mursi’s ouster.

Many of the death sentences have been handed down at mass trials involving hundreds of defendants and lasting just days.