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Egypt slams 'politically motivated' HRW report

August 12, 2014 at 3:02 pm

A senior Egyptian security official criticised a Human Rights Watch’s report published today, on the first anniversary of the operation to disperse the Rabaa Al-Adawiya sit-in, calling it “politically motivated” and “against the Egyptian state and aims to topple it”.

The official said: “The report lacked professionalism and objectivity and depended on unofficial sources.”

Assistant Interior Minister for Human Rights, Major General Abu Bakr Abdel Karim told the Anadolu news agency, during an exclusive telephone interview: “The report does not focus on human rights, but was issued against the Egyptian state and aims to topple it and discredit the reputation of its institutions. The report did not disclose its source of information and ignored civil society organisations’ reports about the operation.”

He continued: “The Egyptian army and police resolved the protest peacefully and professionally and exercised self-restraint, and if the protesters hadn’t began firing and violence at the sit-in it would have been resolved without the fall of one man, because the security agencies provided safe corridors for those who wished to leave, except those who the prosecution issued arrest warrants for.”

The security official claimed: “The Interior Ministry has documented incidents of torture inside the Rabaa sit-in against people who the protestors believed to be policemen.” According to Abdul Kareem, the security services found the bodies of 11 people, including a police officer in the Rabaa Al-Adawiya and Al-Nahda Squares. It is alleged that supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood kidnapped and tortured the 11 believing them to be members of the Egyptian police force.

Abdul Kareem also accused protestors of bringing bodies from outside Cairo and leaving them inside Al-Iman mosque near the square to count as victims of the operation, saying “police found the bodies of 24 people who had died before the date of the operation”.

He asked: “Why did HRW not include these facts in its report?”

He denied that “police used excessive force as described by the report”, saying, “the police distributed leaflets to warn the protestors and allowed citizens to leave the square through safe corridors before using water and tear gas to disburse them.”

Human Rights Watch today published a report entitled The Rab’a Massacre and Mass Killings of Protesters in Egypt was released today to mark the anniversary of the security forces operation to disperse two pro-Morsi sits-in at Rabaa Al-Adawiya Square, east of Cairo, and Al-Nahda Square, in the west of Cairo, on August 14 last year.

The New York based watchdog said the 186-page report “documents how Egyptian police and army methodically opened fire with live ammunition on crowds of demonstrators opposed to the military’s July 3 ouster of Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first elected civilian president, at six demonstrations between July 5 and August 17, 2013.”

The organisation said: “The systematic and widespread killing of at least 1,150 demonstrators by Egyptian security forces in July and August last year may amount to crimes against humanity.”