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Rights activists and Islamists said Tuesday that they feared the latest executions would drive more young Egyptians into the arms of the ISIL, also known by its Arabic acronym Daesh.

“This is the new wave of oppression that we have been expecting all year,” said Ezzat Ghoniem, a lawyer who defends many Muslim Brotherhood members. “These executions will only push the thousands of young people in prison into the arms of Daesh.”

Photo by AFP/Getty Images

The number of death sentences handed down by Egyptian courts appears to have risen significantly this year, with about 60 reported in state media last year and at least 186 so far this year.

In addition, tens of thousands of Egyptians arrested in the crackdown after the military takeover in 2013 remain in prison, many appealing death sentences.

“These death sentences and executions are a flagrant breach of international law,” Maya Foa, director of the international human rights organization Reprieve, said Tuesday. “Trials in Egypt routinely fail to meet basic fair trial standards, and this is especially so in mass trials and military tribunals, as in this case.”

Trials in Egypt routinely fail to meet basic fair trial standards, and this is especially so in mass trials and military tribunals, as in this case

Reprieve said the number of people executed in Egypt on Tuesday was the most on a single day since the founding of the modern Egyptian state in 1953.

The families and lawyers of those hanged on Tuesday could not be reached immediately for comment. But Ghoniem, who is in touch with them, said that the lawyers were not given time to present an appeal after the defense minister signed off on their executions a week ago.