CAIRO: An Egyptian Supreme Military Court has sentenced four people to death after they were convicted of kidnapping and assaulting a young woman. One of those sentenced to death by hanging is 17-years-old. The death sentences have raised concerns over the use of capital punishment in the country. According to the Egyptian Child Law, the Code of Military Justice and international law, the death penalty should not be applied to those under 18-years-old. “The death sentence issued against the minor A.M.M., one of four defendants, illustrates the ignorance of the military judiciary in civil and criminal law alike,” said Adel Ramadan, Legal Officer at the Egyptian Iinitiative for Personal Rights in a statement. “This raises strong doubts about the competence of the military judiciary to prosecute civilians in crimes under public law.” Under Article 111 of the Child Law “a defendant under the age of 18 at the time of the commission of the crime shall not be sentenced to death, life imprisonment or imprisonment with hard labor.” The sentence also contravenes Article 8 of the Code of Military Justice, which states that no minor may be tried before a military court unless a partner in the crime falls under the jurisdiction of the Code of Military Justice as defined in Article 4 of the same law. This condition does not apply in the current case as all the defendants are civilians. “The danger is even greater when the military judiciary, with its susceptibility to errors, begins determining whether a person is deserving of life. This is starkly clear in the case of A.M.M., whose life, dreams and ambitions may be abruptly ended at the age of 17, and thus demands that we reconsider the case,” added Ramadan. Local rights groups are pushing for the military to reconsider the sentence and are calling for immediate action to abide by Egyptian and international law. BM
