Human rights organisation calls for INTERPOL to suspend cooperation with Egypt

The Arab Organisation for Human Rights in the UK (AOHR) sent a letter to INTERPOL asking it to suspend its cooperation with Egyptian authorities following arrest warrants which had been issued against political opponents.

According to the AOHR, following the military coup against freely elected president Mohammed Morsi in July, the Egyptian authorities have carried out mass killings that amount to crimes against humanity, as well as having carried out mass arrests against “political opponents.”

The organisation criticised the weak response of the international community, who have not gone further than condemnations and denunciations.

Meanwhile, the organisation confirmed that the “arbitrary mass arrests against political opponents were continuous and that prisoners inside the police and army jails were being exposed to severe torture and degrading treatment.” It also said that some of them had suffered sexual abuses.

The AOHR said that the number of prisoners inside police and army jails, as well as other civilian facilities exceeded 18000, including women, and children. They also said that the Egyptian authorities were still taking several measures to rein in continuous peaceful demonstrations against the military rule of the country.

It said that security services, supported by military forces, were storming houses, breaking doors and inspecting and damaging the properties of their political opponents. The arrests are breaches of local and international law.

Criticising the military’s control over the judicial authority, the AOHR said, “the military services control over the judiciary system increases the complications of violence.” It noted that the army imposes pre- prepared charges for the Public Prosecution to convict the prisoners with.

It also criticised the refusal of the judicial authorities to carry out neutral investigations into the massacres and the torture carried out in prisons.

The organisation criticised the arrest warrants issued against Egyptian activists who opposed the military’s actions and who explained to the people through mass media that the events of July 3, 2013 were a military coup.

“Egyptian authorities called for INTERPOL to help bring fugitive political opponents to trial in Egypt,” AOHR said. The organisation called for the international body not to cooperate with Egyptians on this issue. “There are not transparent bases for fair trials in Egypt at the moment,” they said.

They also called for INTERPOL to suspend cooperation with Egypt until the rule of civilians was reclaimed and the army returned to their bases.