It is gut-wrenching to try to absorb the enormity of the state-sanctioned murder — which I believe executions to be. We talk of having an independent judiciary in Egypt, but it is far from impartial. Whether in a military tribunal courtroom or a civilian one, the arc of the Egyptian moral universe bends not toward justice, but instead toward the political whim of whoever has power. That is especially pronounced in military tribunals.

Since Mr. Sisi has been in power, the numbers of death sentences and executions have risen markedly. According to the state news media in Egypt, in 2017 courts handed down 186 death sentences, triple the 60 handed down in 2016. And the number of executions doubled to 44 in 2016 from 22 in 2015. Last year, Egypt executed 16 people. In just the first nine days of 2018, it has hanged almost half that number.

When the Egyptian authorities are not putting to death people through their courts, they do so extrajudicially. In April, Human Rights Watch said military forces in the Sinai Peninsula had executed at least two and as many as eight unarmed detainees and covered up the killings to make it appear that the victims were armed terrorists shot to death in a raid.

In the 15 hangings on Dec. 26, Egyptian human rights groups have said, the legal procedures were flawed and at least one of the 15 appeared to have been tortured. One lawyer, who was in touch with families and lawyers of those hanged, said the executed men’s lawyers were not given time to present an appeal before the defense minister signed off on their executions. And even small mercies were denied. The families had no chance to say goodbye before the men were hanged.

In a similar vein, a sister of one of the men hanged last Tuesday told the independent Egyptian news site Mada Masr that their families don’t know where the executions were carried out, nor how to claim their kin’s bodies. A military court had scheduled an appeal for Feb. 25 — six weeks after the hangings.