Egypt undermines efforts to take Rabaa perpetrators to ICC

Egyptian law experts have said that the Egyptian government’s approval to set up local courts to try those accused of war crimes, genocides and crimes against humanity undermine efforts to sue them internationally.

Expert of International Law Ahmed Fawzi said: “Filing complaints against criminals in Egyptian courts undermines the efforts of any party or organisation which aims to terrorise the country through putting human rights cases before the international judiciary.”

Speaking to the Anadolu news agency the law professor in Beni-Suef University said: “The ratification of the law that authorised civil and military judiciary to sue war criminals is recognised by international law and is used in several countries such as Italy.”

Fawzi continued: “Any complaints filed against Egypt will be turned down or turned to Egyptian courts as long as there are courts that specialise in war crimes and perpetrators of genocide.”

On Tuesday, Human Rights Watch issued a report on the Rabaa Al-Adawiya “mass killing” which took place in Egypt in August 2013.

“In Rabaa Square, Egyptian security forces carried out one of the world’s largest killings of demonstrators in a single day in recent history,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch.

According to the report, more than 817 people were killed in dispersal of the Rabaa sit-in.

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