Amnesty concerned at big rise in Egypt executions

      CAIRO, June 13  - Rights group Amnesty   International voiced concern on Thursday that executions in Egypt had increased dramatically in the past decade and said many convicts were denied fair trials and appeals.

      "In defiance of world trends, the use of the death penalty has increased significantly over the past decade in Egypt," the London-based group said in a report sent to Reuters.

      Amnesty said 530 men and women were condemned to death in Egypt between 1991 and 2000 for murder, rape, drug and "terrorism" offences.

      Amnesty recorded 213 actual executions, compared to 35 in the previous decade based on Egyptian media reports. The report did not say what happened to the other convicts.

      Amnesty blamed the rise in executions partly on the use of military  courts to try "terrorism" suspects. Egypt has been under emergency rule since Muslim militants assassinated President Anwar Sadat in 1981.

      A total of 67 people have been executed on terror charges since 1992, when President Hosni Mubarak began referring suspected Islamic militants to military tribunals.

      The government says it needs faster justice than crammed civilian courts are able to deliver. But human rights groups say Egypt resorts to military courts because it fears the civilian system may not return guilty verdicts.

      "Trials before military courts and the emergency state security courts are grossly unfair and in flagrant violation of Egypt's obligations under international treaties, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights," Amnesty said.

      There is no right of appeal against death sentences passed by military courts, it said.

      Amnesty called on Egypt to commute all pending death sentences and move towards abolishing the death penalty.

      Eight of the 94 men currently on trial in a military court on charges of forming or belonging to a secret group risked being sentenced to death, it said. The verdict in the case is due later this month.