In a resolution adopted by 569 votes to 38 with 54 abstentions two days ahead of the 13th World Day Against the Death Penalty on 10 October, MEPs reaffirm their condemnation of the use of the death penalty. The article further states that “the abolition of the death penalty for drug-related offences should be made a prerequisite for EU financial and technical assistance to third countries,” MEPs said.

“At least 2,466 people are known to have been sentenced to death in 2014, an increase of 28% compared with 2013. This increase was largely due to sharp spikes in death sentences in Egypt and Nigeria, where courts imposed mass sentences against scores of people in some cases.”

C. Hulsman: death sentences in Egypt are rarely related to drug-related offenses. They are instead related to terrorism and support for terrorism. Others believe this to be political but what for one is a  political activist calling for militant action is for others a terrorist.