NGOs urge Egypt to revoke death sentences

By Behlul Cetinkaya

ANKARA

Fifty-four non-governmental organizations issued Wednesday a joint declaration urging Egypt to revoke death sentences that came after the 2013 military coup.

Turkish and Egyptian NGOs called on the international public and international institutions which Egypt is part of -- including the UN, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the African Union -- to discourage the executions from being carried out.

“It is everyone’s responsibility to prevent execution of the death sentences of these people, most of whom are young political prisoners,” said the declaration.

The Egyptian military deposed Mohamed Morsi, the country's first freely elected president, in a 2013 military coup after one year in power.

Egypt’s current president, Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, came to power in a 2014 election that followed the military coup.

The NGOs gathered in Istanbul said that on the Sisi administration's watch 109 had been sentenced to death in 2013, 509 in 2014, 538 in 2015 and 237 in 2016.

The statement added that most were not involved in violence and were pacifist activists, scholars or journalists. The statement also called for a cessation of human rights violations in Egypt.

Among the organizations, there were 10 Egyptian NGOs.