By IndiaTomorrow.net,
Beirut, Lebanon, 16 Aug 2015: As two years have passed and Egyptian authorities have held no government official or member of the security forces responsible for the mass killing of protesters in Cairo’s Rab’a al-Adawiya Square, nor provided any redress for the victims, the Human Rights Watch has demanded the United Nations Human Rights Council to set up an international commission of inquiry into the brutal clearing of the Rab’a al-Adawiya sit-in and other mass killings of protesters in July and August 2013. The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights should also establish a similar investigation, demanded the New York-based HRW. The Egyptian government has, however, slammed HRW report and demand.
On August 14, 2013, security forces killed at least 817 people and most likely more than 1,000 at a mass sit-in in what probably amounted to “crimes against humanity,” said HRW in its report published on 14th Aug on the occasion of second anniversary of the killings.
The rights body has also criticized US and Europe for restoring relations with Egypt despite the civilian killings.
“Washington and Europe have gone back to business with a government that celebrates rather than investigates what may have been the worst single-day killing of protesters in modern history,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director. “The UN Human Rights Council, which has not yet addressed Egypt’s dangerous and deteriorating human rights situation, is one of the few remaining routes to accountability for this brutal massacre.”
“The United States and Egypt’s European allies, rather than seriously addressing the rank impunity of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s government, contend that it is a national security priority to resume their relationships with Egypt, including providing Egypt with military aid and hardware,” said HRW.
The dispersal of the Rab’a al-Adawiya sit-in occurred on August 14, 2013, a little more than a month after the Egyptian military – under then-Defense Minister al-Sisi – removed Mohamed Morsy, Egypt’s first freely elected president and a former high-level official in the Muslim Brotherhood. Morsy’s ouster followed mass protests against his rule. Afterward, Brotherhood supporters and others opposed to the military’s actions held protests throughout Egypt. Security forces systematically confronted the protests with deadly force. Between Morsy’s ouster on July 3, 2013, and August 16, 2013, Human Rights Watch documented six instances when security forces unlawfully killed protesters, leaving at least 1,185 people dead, HRW said.
The dispersal of the Rab’a al-Adawiya Square sit-in, where the crowd reached 85,000 at its height, was the worst of these incidents. The government announced its intention to clear the sit-in but did not announce a date. At first light on August 14, security forces using armored personnel carriers and snipers fired on the crowd with live ammunition shortly after playing a recorded announcement to clear the square through loudspeakers. Police provided no safe exit and fired on many who tried to escape, HRW said.
Responding to the HRW report, the Egypt government on Saturday (15th Aug) slammed the rights body and termed its report as “biased and politicized.”
“Egypt strongly rejects such a politicised and non-objective report that lacks the least standards of credibility and neutrality,” foreign ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu-Zaid said in a statement, Xinhua news agency reported.
