How Death Row Is Different Around The World
7. Egypt
While the majority of countries which still enact capital punishment are seeing the statistics fall or at least stay steady, Egypt’s propensity for death seems to be worryingly on the rise. In 2020, the nation tripled its (reported) executions, leaping from 32 to 107, and placing it third for frequency of executions carried out behind China and Iran.
Egypt’s stock in trade is mass sentencing. Most notably, following the 2013 coup d'état, almost 700 members of the Muslim Brotherhood were sentenced to death. The majority of these sentences were commuted to life in prison, but trials and appeals continued up to June of this year, where 12 members were sentenced - without further appeal - to death.
Execution is carried out by hanging, with the firing squad reserved for members of the military. The Egyptian government is under no obligation to announce or report executions, nor to convey this information to the family of the condemned. Many records are extracted by human rights organisations, who also report that much of the information used to convict is obtained under torture.