Egypt: Protests on anniversary of 'the prison truck massacre'

Egyptians opposed to President Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi’s military regime staged nationwide protests on the first anniversary of the Abu Zaabal prison truck massacre yesterday evening.

On August 18 last year, four days after the deadly dispersal of the Rabaa sit-in, dozens of protesters were rounded up by police and then transported from Heliopolis police headquarters to Abu Zaabal prison. On that day, 37 detainees lost their lives in one of the prison trucks due to torture, over-crowding and after suffocating from tear gas.

Sunday’s protests came in protest against the Abu Zaabal incident as well as all other massacres that followed the July 3 military coup last year. The Anti-Coup Alliance has called on supporters to stage week-long rallies in commemoration of last year’s massacres.

Protesters in Cairo and at least seven other governorates chanted against Al-Sisi and called for retribution for the martyrs, as well as an end to the military rule.

The Muslim Brotherhood has held the Ministry of Interior responsible for the Abu Zaabal deaths, while four police suspects have been prosecuted and received preliminary prison sentences. The court, however, returned the case to the prosecution to reopen investigations.

The Guardian‘s Patrick Kingsley has published an in-depth report on the Abu Zaabal deaths.