The UN Human Rights Council adopted the resolution which was submitted by Belgium on Thursday, with 26 votes in favour, 13 against and 8 abstentions.
According to state news agency MENA, Amr Ramadan, Egypt's delegate to the UN in Geneva, expressed Egypt's deep concern over the use of economic sanctions and conditions to development aid to shape the choices of developing countries over the use of the death penalty.
These practices are "unethical" and are "wholly rejected," he said, in his word before the council.
Ramadan says there is a "deep divide" in talks inisde the UN over the death penalty, especially since the international human rights law is not binding on this matter.
He said the opposition front to the resolution includes Saudi Arabia, China, Pakistan and Nigeria.
Yet, the UN has for years been urging states and adopting resolution to end capital punishment.
According to the office of the UN's high commissioner for human rights, "82 per cent [of countries] have either introduced moratoria by law or in practice or have abolished it [the death penalty]." This means that 160 states with various cultures and religions have either abolished or are no longer using it.
But the review released by Amnesty International in March of this year shows that
"an alarming number of countries used the death penalty to tackle real or perceived threats to state security linked to terrorism, crime or internal instability in 2014."
According to the report, at least 2,466 people in 55 countries were sentenced to death last year, a 28 percent increase on 2013.
The report attributed the main cause of the increase to a spike in death sentences issued in Egypt and Nigeria.
Egyptian courts handed death sentences to hundreds of defendants in different trials, most of whom are believed to be supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, accused of committing acts of murder, attempted murder and other charges.
However none of these sentences are final, and some were appealed in higher courts and nullified.
Although death sentences issued worldwide spiked last year, executions fell by 22 percent, Amnesty said.
Similarly, the watchdog confirmed at least 491 executions in eight countries in the Middle East alone, which is a 23 percent decrease from the previous year's figure.
Egypt: 16 Jihadists Sentenced to Death for Killing Police
October 1, 2015: An Egyptian court sentenced 16 jihadists to death in a retrial on charges of killing 25 policemen in the Sinai Peninsula two years ago, a court official said.
Members of the group were first convicted at the end of last year and sentenced either to death or to lengthy prison terms, but the Court of Cassation annulled the convictions and ordered a retrial.
The latest verdict will be sent to Egypt's mufti, the country's highest Islamic religious authority, for a non-binding review.
The final verdicts will be announced on November 14, at which time the death sentences will be upheld or commuted to prison terms.
The case stems from an August 2013 rocket attack on two minibuses carrying police in the northern Sinai.
Islamist militants have killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen since the army overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, ushering in a crackdown on his supporters.
Most of the attacks have been in the sparsely populated north of the Sinai, which borders the Gaza Strip and Israel.
Last year, militants in Sinai pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.
Source: Agence France-Presse, October 1, 2015
