The Egyptian Constitution makes no reference to the death penalty.

The Egyptian Constitution makes no reference to the death penalty. But, in accordance with Article 2 of the Egyptian Constitution, as amended in 1980: "Islam is the State religion and Arabic is its official language. The Sharia is the principal source of legislation."
Egyptian legislation allows for the death sentence to be imposed for a large number of offences defined by the Penal Code, the Military Code of Justice, the Arms and Ammunition Law, and the Anti-Drug Trafficking Law.
Egypt has expanded its application of capital punishment since former President Hosni Mubarak took office in 1981. Capital offences previously confined to premeditated murder and crimes against the State, now number over 40. Capital crimes include aggravated murder, arson, abduction and rape of a female, perjury leading to the sentencing and execution of a person, hijacking, espionage, drug trafficking, political and military offences.
All capital executions must first be approved by the Mufti, the Country’s highest religious authority. The final decision goes to the President of the Republic who, by law, has the power to grant a pardon or commute a sentence.
State of emergency laws - imposed in 1981 Islamic extremists assassinated President Anwar Sadat - allow the government to try militants in a military court without the right of appeal. Since 1981 thousands of militants have been arrested and scores put to death.
Minors under 18 years of age are exempt from the death penalty and the execution of a pregnant woman who can only take place two months after birth.
Executions cannot take place on public holidays or religious holidays in accordance with the religion of the accused.
In 1999 the Government abolished an article of the Penal Code that permitted a rapist to be absolved of criminal charges if he married his victim. However, marital rape is not illegal.
Religious authorities are vocally opposing the abolition of the death penalty. “Any Muslim who denies qisas [capital punishment], which is mentioned in the Quran, is an infidel,” said cleric Abdel Fattah el Sheikh, former director of Al Azhar University and director of the jurisprudence committee which is affiliated with Al Azhar, Sunni Islam’s most prominent institution.
In June 2003, Egypt outlawed forced labour as a form of punishment.
On 11 February 2011, following an 18-day popular uprising, Hosni Mubarak was forced to resign.
As a consequence of the “revolution” of 2011, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) took the power to “temporarily administer the affairs of the Country.” The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces maintained the state of emergency that had been in effect for three decades, and thousands of civilians were tried in military courts since the SCAF assumed power in February 2011. The special courts, which often group dozens of defendants together before a military judge, are notorious for their quick and severe sentences. Defendants are regularly denied access to legal counsel and verdicts cannot be appealed. In July 2011, the SCAF insisted that only cases of “thuggery” associated with weapons, rape or assault of military personnel were being referred to military courts. However, military courts continue to rule on cases ranging from petty theft to violent crime, handing down sentences of six months to 25 years in prison. At least 17 defendants have reportedly been sentenced to death by military courts in 2011.
The SCAF said military trials were necessary due to the spiralling crime rates that accompanied the uprising that led to Mubarak’s ouster. “No civilian should be tried in front of military courts,” SCAF member Major-General Mamdouh Shaheen told reporters. “But in this emergency situation... military courts took the place of civilian courts until they were able to work.”
The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces also added new offences to the already wide range of capital crimes.
On 10 March 2011, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces issued a decree (Law 7 of 2011), amending the 1937 Penal Code with two articles on “Hooliganism, Terrorizing and Thuggery”, for which “the penalty shall be death if the crime is preceded or accompanied or associated with or followed by the felony of murder.”
On 1 April 2011, Egypt’s military decided to authorize execution as a punishment for convicted rapists. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces said it would allow the death sentence for rapists whose victims are under 18 or in cases where the perpetrator has a special connection with the victim, such as being the victim’s guardian or employee.
On 24 June 2012, the election commission announced that Mohamed Morsi, a leading figure in the Muslim Brotherhood, won Egypt's presidential runoff against Ahmed Shafik, the last prime minister under deposed leader Hosni Mubarak. According to official results, Morsi took 51.7 percent of the vote while Shafik received 48.3.
On 2 June 2012, at the end of a 10-month trial, Hosni Mubarak was sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in killing about 850 protesters in the 18-day uprising against the 84-year-old former president. The court found no evidence that Mubarak ordered the killings, but blamed him for not using his power to end the bloodshed as thousands of protesters converged on Cairo’s Tahrir Square in January and February of 2011. Presiding Judge Ahmed Refaat also sentenced the former strongman’s interior minister Habib al-Adly to life in prison over the killings, while six former police commanders were acquitted for lack of evidence. Corruption charges against Mubarak’s sons, Alaa and Gamal, were dropped due to the expiry of a statute of limitations. The maximum penalty for Mubarak and his co-defendants could have been death. Scuffles broke out inside and outside the courtroom after the sentence was handed down. Protesters chanted “False, False, False” and “The people demand the removal of the regime.” “The people want to cleanse the judiciary,” lawyers chanted inside the courtroom after the verdict. Some raised banners that read, “God’s verdict is execution.” Mubarak’s lawyer announced his client’s intention to appeal the court’s ruling. “We will appeal. The ruling is full of legal flaws from every angle,” Yasser Bahr told AFP.
There is very little official data available on death sentences and executions in Egypt.
At least one person was executed in 2011. According to Amnesty International, at least 123 death sentences were imposed in 2011.
In 2010, at least 185 death sentences were imposed and at least 4 executions were carried out. In 2009, there were at least 269 death sentences and 5 executions.
In 2010, the UN Human Rights Council, under the Universal Periodic Review of human rights in Egypt, recommended that Egypt restrict application of the death penalty to the most serious crimes. Egypt supported this recommendation but rejected the Council’s recommendation to pursue a moratorium on executions, commute all death sentences and abolish the death penalty.
On December 20, 2012, Egypt voted against the Resolution on a Moratorium on the Use of the Death Penalty at the UN General Assembly.