Former Egyptian detainees say that Ramadan is the only month of the year in which those sentenced to death sleep, assured that their sentence would not be executed the next day.

However, Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi’s regime violated this trend and executed 17 people among its opponents, in the case known in the media as “storming the Kerdasa Police Station,” without regard for the sanctity of the month for Muslims.

These executions bring the number of those who have been executed in Egypt since the military coup and Sisi’s rule of the country to 93. In these executions, the authorities claim that they are criminals. On the other hand, local and international human rights organisations assert that it is against political opponents. Criminal charges have been imposed against the political detainees to undermine them and punish them for their rejection of the military coup led by the army in 2013. Opponents constantly complain about the lack of justice in these trials.

The first execution of a political prisoner during the second year of Sisi’s presidency began in 2015. According to Egyptian law, death sentences are carried out after ratification by the country’s president, and he also has the right to pardon and commute the sentence.

7 cases in 2015

March 7: The Egyptian authorities carried out the first death sentence during Sisi’s reign, linked to incidents of violence against Mahmoud Ramadan. The death sentence was issued for throwing a boy from the top of a building during violent confrontations in the summer of 2013, amid denials from his family of the accusation’s validity.

May 17: Six convicts were executed in a case known as “Arab Sharkas.” The Supreme Military Court upheld the verdict in March 2015.

15 cases in 2017

December 26: Authorities executed 15 convicts in a “terrorism case” in North Sinai. Detainees denied validity of the charges which included “attacking checkpoints and police installations, carrying out murder operations, and joining a terrorist cell.”

4 cases in 2018

January 2: Authorities executed four convicts in the military case known in the media as “the events of Kafr El-Sheik Stadium” in 2015. It refers to a bombing that occurred that resulted in three dead and two injured. All of the victims are students of the Military Academy. There was a repeated denial from the defendants and their lawyers. There were also human rights appeals to afford a fair trial to the defendants.

18 cases in 2019

February 7: Three people, including two students, were executed after they were convicted of killing the son of the judge, the counselor, Mr. Mahmoud Al-Murli, in the city of Mansoura (north) in September 2014 and joining a group founded in violation of the law (the Muslim Brotherhood).

February 13: The authorities executed three opponents after being convicted of charges, including the killing of Major General Nabil Farag in September 2013 in the events of the city of Kerdasa, west of Cairo, which witnessed violence between protesters and police forces.

February 20: Nine young men, most of them from the Muslim Brotherhood, were executed. Among them was Muhammad, the son of the imprisoned academic Taha Wahdan, a member of the group’s counseling office.

Despite their repeated denials, the nine were convicted of “being involved in the assassination of the former Public Prosecutor Hisham Barakat” in the summer of 2015. The authorities did not respond to international appeals not to carry out these executions.

December 5: Three convicts were executed in the “Niger Embassy” and “Helwan Church” cases, on the back of accusations, which the convicts denied, related to violence and murder.

32 cases in 2020

February 25: Eight people were executed for carrying out attacks against Christians in 2016 and 2017, which led to the killing of 75 Christians in a case known in the media as the “bombing of churches.”

On March 4: The authorities executed Hisham Ashmawy, a former officer in the Egyptian Special Forces after he was convicted in cases related to attacks on security forces and prominent personalities after Libya handed him over to Egypt in 2019.

June 27: Al-Libi Abdul Rahim Al-Mismari was executed. He was arrested in mid-November 2017, following accusations of masterminding what is known in the media as the “Oasis Accident 2017” which killed 16 policemen west of Egypt.

On July 28: Seven people were executed, convicted of “killing a police officer and stealing his weapon,” while he was in a quarrel in the Ismailia governorate in 2013, amid international human rights condemnations and exile from the accused, and an official refusal to undermine the independence of the judiciary.

October 3: Authorities executed 15 opponents. They have been convicted in three cases: “Alexandria Library,” “Kerdasa Police Station,” and “Ajnad Misr 1” on the grounds of accusations they denied of terrorism and murder.

17 cases in 2021

April 26: The authorities carried out the death sentence by hanging 17 people, in the case known in the media as “storming the Kerdasa Police Station,” including an elderly sheikh at the age of 81.

The defendants were convicted of storming the Kerdasa Police Station and killing about 11 police officers and personnel, including the police station’s warden. The defendants denied all these charges.