EP member criticizes EU for silence on Egypt executions

By Serife Cetin

BRUSSELS

A European Parliament member criticized the EU on Wednesday for its silence on the execution of nine young people in Egypt.

“EU is sometimes insincere," Pavel Telicka, vice-chairman of the EP, said at a news conference in Brussels on Wednesday.

“However, the EU is still in good condition in terms of its stance on death penalty and human rights issues,” Telicka added.

Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders and some people who were acquitted by Egyptian courts addressed the presser.

Responding to a question on European leaders attending a summit in Egypt just after a mass execution, Reynders said that they are in contact with Egyptian authorities and civil society organizations to condemn the executions.

Last week Egyptian authorities executed nine young men convicted of assassinating an Egyptian prosecutor-general in 2015 in a car bombing.

Amnesty International said the men were convicted on terrorism charges after "grossly unfair trials" marred by torture.

The death sentences were carried out despite calls by numerous international rights groups for a stay of execution.

European leaders attended the two-day EU-Arab summit in the Egyptian resort city of Sharmel-Sheikh on Sunday and Monday just after the execution.

“We closely follow prison conditions as well as executions in Egypt,” said Reynders, adding: “We are taking steps to bring the issue to the agenda of the UN.”

Earlier this month, Egyptian authorities executed another six people in two separate cases for the murder of a judge’s son and a senior police officer.

Egypt has remained beset by violence and turmoil since the army deposed Mohamed Morsi, the country's first freely elected president, in a 2013 coup.