Egypt executes 9 for 2015 murder of prosecutor general

CAIRO

Egyptian authorities on Wednesday executed nine youths convicted of assassinating the country's prosecutor-general in 2015, according to local media.

The death sentence was carried out despite calls by international human rights organization - including Amnesty International – for the Egyptian authorities to halt the execution.

In November, the Court of Cassation, Egypt’s highest appellate court, upheld the death sentence against the nine after being convicted in the death of Hisham Barakat, who was killed in a car bombing in eastern Cairo.

The son of senior Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Taha Wahdan was among those condemned to death.

Barakat was the highest Egyptian official to have been killed in a militant attack since 2013.

Egyptian authorities have yet to confirm the executions.

In February, Egyptian authorities executed six people in two different cases for killing the son of a judge and a senior police officer.

Egypt was roiled by turmoil when the military deposed Mohamed Morsi, the country's first freely elected president, in a 2013 coup.