13 November 2017 :  the Egyptian Supreme Military Court of Appeals rejected the appeals filed by defendants in case number 45/2013, Partial Military Offences in North Sinai, attached to case number 411/2013, Military crimes in Ismailia. All 16 defendants are civilians. They were sentenced to death on June 16, 2015, and now, following the rejection of their appeal, they await their execution which is enforceable at any time.

The defendants who are sentenced to death are: Ahmad Azmi Hassan Mohamed Abdo, AbdulRahman Salaama Salem Salaama Abu Eita, Alaa Kamel Saleem Salaama, Mas’ad Hamdan Salem Salaama, Musa Mohamed Omar Haraz, Haleem Awad Suleiman, Ibrahim Salem Hamad Mohamed, Ismail Abdullah Hamdan Qaisawi, Hassan Salaama Jumua Muslim, Dahab Awad Sulaiman, Yousef Ayad Sulaiman Awad, Mohamad Ayyash Ghannam, Salaama Saber Saleem Salaama, Fouad Salaama Jumaa, Mohamed Salaama Talal Sulaiman and Ahmed Salaama Talal Sulaiman.

Arab Organisation for Human Rights in the UK (AOHR UK) saw the case papers and the referral order of the accused. The entire case appears to have been built in a farcical manner: the charges were apprehended after the defendants were arbitrarily arrested without the permission of the Public Prosecution. In the records of arrest, it is recorded that the officer patrolling the area of Abu Eita in al-Arish searched the area and arrested the second suspect, AbdulRahman Salaama Salem Salaama Abu Eita on grounds of suspicion. The members of the patrol accompanying the officer arrested the fourth suspect, Mas’ad Hamdan Salem Salaama, after an alleged exchange of gunfire, without any physical evidence to prove this. Whilst conducting another patrol on the Circular Road in al-Arish, the eighteenth and nineteenth defendants Mohamed Salaama Talal Sulaiman and Ahmed Salaama Talal Sulaiman were arrested. The arrests were carried out without prior arrangement or trace to the accused, but were done arbitrarily on the grounds of suspicion and without being suspected in a specific case; they were only charged after their arrest.

Documents were later added to the case files of investigations carried out by security authorities which shouldered allegations on the accused without the provision of any physical evidence of criminal responsibility, following security services failing to identify perpetrators of the original crimes. They reported that the first suspect, Ahmed Azmi Hassan, was responsible for the planning, preparation and implementation of the ambush in Safa along with others, without providing any evidence except declaring “special sources”.

According to statements by case lawyers, the defendants defence was violated as most of their attempts to speak to defend themselves were rejected. The defendants’ requests for investigation into the horrific torture they endured with the aim of forcing them to confess to charges they did not commit, were also ignored.

Following the outcome of this appeal, the number of Egyptian citizens sentenced to death and awaiting the implementation of their sentence after their sentence was upheld, is now 30, including 20 who were charged by military courts, and all of whom are civilians. These sentences are among death sentences which were issued against 931 persons from July 3, 2013 to date. The sentence has already been enforced against eight persons, after all legal options to appeal were exhausted.

In a related situation, the Military Court of Alexandria transferred 14 defendants – all civilians – to the Mufti of the Republic to ratify their execution on the grounds of their accusation in military case number 108. The defendants are: Ahmed Mohamed Abdel-Aal al-Deeb, Issam Mohamed Mahmoud Aql, Taher Ahmed Ismail Hamroush, Mohamed el-Sayyed Mohamed Shehata, Azzam Ali Shehata Ahmed Amr, Badr el-Din Mohamed Mahmoud el-Gamal, Samir Mohamed Badeewy, Ahmed Mohamed el-Sherbeeni, AbdelRahman Mohammed Mohamed AbdelRahman Saleh, Mahmoud Mohamed Salem Hefny, Mahmoud Ismail Ali Ismail, Khaled Hassan Hanafi Shehata, Al-Sayed Ibrahim al-Saheemi and Ahmed Hassan Saad. This brings the number of those whose papers were referred to the Grand Mufti of Egypt for ratification since the events of July 3, 2013, on charges related to opposition of the authorities, to 2021 people. Since July 3, 2013, Egyptian courts have sentenced 931 people to death, including 30 sentences which are awaiting implementation after their appeal was rejected.

(Source: http://aohr.org.uk/index.php/en/component/k2/itemlist/date/2017/11/15.html)