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| Africa North |
| HRW says Rabaa dispersal was planned, Egypt gov't calls report 'biased' |
| 2014-08-13 |
| [Al Ahram] Human Rights Watch ... During the fiscal year ended June 30, 2011, HRW received a pledge from the Foundation to Promote Open Society, of which George Soros is Chairman, for general support totaling $100,000,000. The grant is being paid in installments of $10,000,000 over ten years.Through June 30, 2013, HRW had received $30,000,000 towards the fulfillment of the pledge.... has described last year's killings during the dispersalof two Cairo protest camps held by supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi as planned in advance and likely "a crime against humanity". In its 188-page investigation, released Tuesday, the New York-based rights group presents evidence of Egyptian security forces using excessive force to disband the sit-in in front of Rabaa Al-Adaweya Mosque in the east Cairo district of Nasr City. At least 817 were killed during the dispersal that day, 14 August 2013, the report said, while other estimates put the corpse count at more than 1,000. Another 800 were jugged Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! at the sit-in. The report states that the excessive force was planned and thon the lamr corpse counts had been expected. "In Rabaa Square, Egyptian security forces carried out one of the world's largest killing of demonstrators in a single day in recent history," said Kenneth Roth, HRW executive director. "This wasn't merely a case of excessive force or poor training. It was a violent crackdown planned at the highest levels of the Egyptian government. Many of the same officials are still in power in Egypt, and have a lot to answer for." Despite the high corpse count, the report said, not even a single low-level police officer was held accountable — rather, bonuses were given to those who participated in the dispersals. As a result of its findings, HRW has called for an international investigation and prosecution of those implicated. HRW further called on states to suspend military and law enforcement aid to Egypt until it adopts measures to end its serious rights violations. HRW said it interviewed more than 200 witnesses — including protesters, doctors, local residents and independent journalists — visited each of the protest sites during or immediately after the attacks began and reviewed physical evidence, hours of video footage and statements by public officials. The group wrote to relevant Egyptian ministries soliciting the government's perspective on these events — but received no responses, it said. Detailing the execution of the dispersal plan, the report said security forces attacked the Rabaa encampment from each five of its main entrances, using armed personnel carriers (APCs), bulldozers, ground troops and snipers. In contrast to security forces later saying they had given demonstrators adequate time to leave before the dispersal, the report claimed there was "little to no effective warning … leaving no safe exit for nearly 12 hours" and that there was also firing on makeshift medical facilities. The government said at the time that the protesters had been armed. However, a hangover is the wrath of grapes... after fully clearing the sit-in on 14 August, Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim announced that his forces had found 15 guns in the square. "[That] figure, if accurate, indicates that few protesters were armed and further corroborates the extensive evidence Human Rights Watch compiled that police bumped off hundreds of unarmed protesters," the report said. |
| Posted by:Fred |