Observation of η c decay into Σ +Σ− and Ξ −Ξ+ final states c Nankai University, Tianjin,300071,China d also at the PNPI, Gatchina, Russia e now at Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan f Guangxi University,Nanning,530004,China Using a data sample of 2.25×10 8 J/ψ events collected with the BESIII detector, we present the first observation of the decays of ηc mesons to Σ +Σ− and Ξ −Ξ+ . The branching fractions are measured to be (2.11 ± 0.28stat. ± 0.18syst. ± 0.50PDG) × 10 −3 and (0.89 ± 0.16stat. ± 0.08syst. ± 0.21PDG) × 10 −3 for ηc → Σ +Σ− and Ξ −Ξ+ , respectively. These branching fractions provide important information on the helicity selection rule in charmonium-decay processes.