EGYPT:
230 Death Sentences in Six Months
Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa Al-Omrani
CAIRO, Jul 16 (IPS) - Egyptian courts have handed down unprecedented numbers of death sentences
in recent months, most of them for violent crime. "Two hundred and thirty death
sentences in six months", read the Jun. 24 headline of independent daily Al-
Dustour. "Fifty in the last week alone".
The most high-profile case has been that of Hisham Talaat Mustafa, a high-
ranking member of the ruling National Democratic Party, convicted of
conspiring in the murder of Lebanese pop singer Suzanne Tamim a year ago
in Dubai. On Jun. 25 Mustafa and an accomplice were sentenced to death.
The verdict was quickly approved by the Grand Mufti, Ali Gomaa. Under
Egyptian law all capital sentences must be approved by the Grand Mufti, a
state-appointed religious authority.
On Jun. 13, 24 men were sentenced to death after clashes in a land dispute
in the Delta governorate Wadi Natroun last year led to the death of 11 people.
On Jun. 17, a metal worker found guilty of murdering two female university
students on the outskirts of Cairo last year was given the capital sentence.
The following day, another six people were given the death penalty for the
murder of two colleagues in the urban governorate Giza. And on Jun. 21, 11
Bedouin people in the Sinai Peninsula were sentenced to death for killing the
head of a rival clan.
Again, on Jun. 30, seven defendants received the death penalty for the killing
of 13 people in clashes in a land dispute in the Delta city Benha.
"Capital sentencing is hardly new to Egypt," Azza Quraim, social science
professor at the Cairo-based National Centre for Social and Criminal
Research told IPS. "But the number of death sentences handed down by the
judiciary in recent weeks is without precedent."
"So many death sentences have been handed down by the courts recently that
the Grand Mufti has had little time to concentrate on his other
responsibilities," Alaa Eddin Al-Kifafi, psychology professor at Cairo
University told IPS.
Use of the death penalty has increased over the past decade, although there
is little official data available. But according to local and international human
rights organisations, 209 death sentences were handed down between Jan. 1
of this year until mid-June. And more followed later last month.
Under Egyptian law, 90 different crimes can warrant execution. These include
premeditated murder, rape, drug-related offences, and also "political
offences" such as "attempting to overthrow the regime by force."
Local experts partially attribute the sharp spike in executions to a recent
surge in violent crime.
"Incidents of violent crime have increased markedly in recent months and
years," Quraim said. "Extreme violence, generally unknown in Egyptian society
before, appears to be becoming a behavioural norm."
The rising crime has been blamed partly on Egypt's painful economic
conditions. While an estimated half of the population of 82 million lives below
the poverty line, the economic crisis has aggravated the situation by further
swelling the ranks of the unemployed.
"For the average citizen, there are fewer job opportunities than ever, which
has led to a widespread sense of hopelessness and despair," said Al-Kifafi.
"And psychologically speaking, the link between feelings of despair and
violent behaviour is well known and thoroughly documented.
"The wave of recent death penalties appears to be a heavy-handed attempt
by the state to deter citizens from committing violent crimes," Al-Kifafi
added.
"In Egypt, there is a massive gap between a tiny wealthy elite and an
enormous poor class," says Quraim. "Therefore, a popular sense of injustice -
coupled with widespread unemployment - represents the chief reason for the
increase in violent crime.
"What's more, the glacial pace of Egypt's legal system, coupled with the
frequent lack of implementation of court verdicts, has made the public lose
faith in the judiciary and begin taking their perceived rights by force," she
added.
But according to Quraim, the state's hasty recourse to capital punishment is a
misguided - and socially destructive - approach to the dilemma, and
represents "its own kind of mass murder."
In the Wadi Natroun case, she said, "11 people died in the initial land
dispute, but a full 24 people were subsequently sentenced to death for their
roles in the incident. The state, which should have determined who the legal
owner of the land was in the first place, is at least partially responsible.
"By issuing harsh verdicts such as the death penalty, judicial authorities have
begun to practice their own kind of violence against society," Quraim added.
"Instead, the government should tackle the problem by providing justice and
security to all; by drafting laws to protect the people, and not just the wealthy
political and business elites." (END/2009)
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