Gangster brothers executed in Egypt

ASSIUT, Egypt, June 18 (Reuters) Two gangster brothers from a drug family in southern Egypt were executed today by hanging in an Alexandria prison judicial sources said.

Izzat Hanafi and his brother Hamdi were arrested in March 2004 in a military-style operation by some 6,000 police with 200 armoured cars. They had taken dozens of people hostage in the town of Nakhila, 350 km south of Cairo.

At the time of his arrest, Izzat Hanafi had already been sentenced to more than 100 years in prison for murder and other crimes. Police seized half a tonne of marijuana and 50 kg of opium from his headquarters.

One person was killed and several wounded in their last stand against the police, which lasted several days and held up traffic on the main railway line between Cairo and the south.

Egypt imposes the death penalty for murder, rape and some ''terrorism'' offences. The rights group Amnesty International counted 213 executions in Egypt during the 1990s.

Reuters SBA RN1813