Egypt
Foreign Nationals and the Death Penalty
Death Penalty Overview
Under Egyptian law, over 100 offences listed in the
Penal Code, the Anti-Drug Law and the Code of
Military Justice are currently punishable by death.
In addition, Sisi's anti-terrorism law introduced 15
new capital offences, which are now mainly used
to prosecute political opponents.
fi
fi
fi
Crimes punishable by death include
premeditated murder, rape and drug
traf cking. In practice, a signi cant number of
death sentences have been handed down in
political trials, particularly for offences related
to terrorist attacks and clashes during protest
rallies. Preliminary death sentences for
alleged terrorist acts are also the most likely
to be con rmed as nal death sentences. In
2019, the Egyptian cabinet approved a draft
law extending the death penalty to drug
offences.
fi
fl
Since President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi came to power
in 2013, Egypt has seen a worrying increase in the
use of the death penalty, fuelled in part by mass
trials enabled by the Assembly Law. Domestic and
international critics allege that the Sisi government
has used the judiciary to sti e opposition through
the imposition of death sentences in politically
motivated trials. Human Rights Watch has accused
the regime of abusing the judiciary to eliminate
political dissent and transforming the death
penalty from a supposed deterrent into an
instrument of revenge. Some executions are
actively publicised by the authorities for political
purposes, raising further concerns. In 2020 alone,
Egypt tripled its annual number of executions,
making it the world's third-largest executioner
after China and Iran. Conditions in Egypt have
steadily deteriorated since Sisi's 2013 coup.
Egyptian courts have recommended a staggering
number of provisional death sentences between
2016 and 2023, and the government has carried
out hundreds of executions.
The continued use of mass trials, made
possible by Law 10/1914 (the Assembly Law),
has led to a worrying increase in the number
of provisional death sentences in Egypt.
Amnesty International reports that these legal
practices lead to grossly unfair trials and
violations of the right to life.