24 June 2021; MEMO: The Egyptian government executed eight people on Monday bringing the total number of people hanged this year alone to 57, according to the NGO Reprieve.
The news comes shortly after Egypt's court of appeal upheld the death penalty for 12 members of the Muslim Brotherhood who had been convicted in the Rabaa sit-in case.
Among these men were senior leaders but also four men arrested at a police checkpoint as they left the Rabaa sit-in.
The four men were given three-year prison sentences and later had new charges brought against them which resulted in the death penalty.
In April Amnesty announced that there had been a 300 per cent rise in executions and that Cairo had become the third most frequent executioner worldwide.
The rights watchdog has described it as a "terrifying execution spree."
Between 2018 and 2020 Egypt carried out at least 241 executions with 152 of these being carried out in 2020.
In May, Father Isaiah was hanged after being convicted of killing a bishop following a confession which he was tortured to get.
His family were not told about the impending execution despite the fact that his brother visited him a day earlier.
Since 2011 at least 17 children have received the death sentence, which is against Egyptian child law.
There are some 60,000 political prisoners in Egypt who are systematically tortured, denied medical care and kept in squalid conditions.
There are 60 people at risk of imminent execution.
