불확실한 살인혐의로 유죄판결을 받은 이집트 남성이 지난 3월 10일 이집트 카이로(Cairo)에서 처형됐다. 알테프 로흄 아브드 엘 알 로흄(Atef Rohyum Abd El Al Rohyum)으로 알려진 이 남성은 유죄판결에 대한 재심을 요청했으나 받아들여지지 않았다.
알테프 로흄은 지한 모하메드 알리(Jihan Mohammed Ali)와 함께 그녀의 남편을 살해한 혐의로 2004년 1월 기소됐다. 처형 전 지한 모하메드가 알테프 로흄은 시체를 옮기는 것을 도와줬을 뿐이며 남편의 구타에 대한 자기방어로 살해하게 됐다고 진술했고 알테프 로흄이 재심을 청구했으나 이는 받아들여지지 않았다.
또, 체포직후 변호사 미배석 상황에서 심문 및 고문, 부당한 대우를 받은 것으로 알려져 있으나, 재판 시 이들에 대한 증인 소환은 이루어지지 않았다.
한편, 사형 집행에 관해 본인은 물론 주변에 절대 공고하지 않는 이집트의 관행에 따라, 이들의 가족은 처형 날짜나 시간 등에 대해서 미리 통보 받지 못했다.
국제앰네스티는 이들에 대한 사형을 다른 형벌로 대체해줄 것을 이집트 정부에 요청한 바 있으며, 알테프의 혐의에 대해서는 재심을 요청한 바 있다.
Egyptian man executed amid questions over murder conviction
Friday 12 March 2010
An Egyptian man, who may have been wrongfully convicted of murder, was hanged in Cairo on Wednesday morning, Amnesty International has learned.
Atef Rohyum Abd El Al Rohyum was executed in Isti’naf prison. His family were not informed of his execution until they were asked to collect the body.
His co-accused, Jihan Mohammed Ali, a woman convicted in the same case, was executed in the city of Giza on the same day. The two were accused of the murder of Jihan Mohammed Ali’s husband in January 2004.
Amnesty International had called for the death sentence to be commuted, and for Atef Rohyum Abd El Al Rohyum to be retried, after learning that he had been transferred to Isti’naf prison, where executions take place.
Atef Rohyum Abd El Al Rohyum was hanged despite evidence suggesting he was not guilty. His family was not made aware that his appeal, filed with the Public Prosecutor in May 2009, had failed, despite a formal request made on Tuesday for information on its status.
Jihan Mohammed Ali had stated she acted alone in killing her husband and that Atef had done no more than help her move the body. He requested a retrial based on this new evidence, but there has been no response from the authorities. Jihan Mohammed Ali also claimed that she had acted in self defence as her husband was beating her. She had been married to her husband while still at school.
At an earlier stage, following his arrest, Atef Rohyum Abd El Al Rohyum is reported to have been interrogated without the presence of a lawyer and tortured and otherwise ill-treated.
Those who say they witnessed him being tortured and harshly treated were not called to give evidence at his trial.
Last year witnessed a significant rise in death sentences handed down by Egyptian courts, with at least 269 death sentences imposed. According to official statements, more than 20 executions took place in Egypt in 2008 and some 26 death sentences were declared final by the courts, adding to those on death row. The authorities never disclose how many people are awaiting execution.
Executions in Egypt are not announced until after they have been carried out and condemned prisoners are not told the date and time of their execution.
In practice, the families of condemned prisoners are not made aware of the execution until they are called to collect the body – despite claims by the Egyptian authorities that relatives are permitted to visit the condemned person on the day appointed for execution.
