HRW calls for UN to condemn reversal of Egypt's human rights

Human Rights Watch has called for the review at the UN Human Rights Council to condemn “the most dramatic reversal of human rights in Egypt’s modern history under President Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi” following the removal of the country’s first democratically-elected civilian President Mohamed Morsi on July 3, 2013.

Philippe Dam, acting Geneva office director at Human Rights Watch, said: “Washington, London, Paris and other capitals have failed to confront Egypt’s dramatic reversal of human rights.”

The mass death sentences issued this year were also discussed at Egypt’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) at the UN today. In less than seven months, Egypt has sentenced 1,243 people to death on false charges and without fair trials. Many delegations demanded a moratorium on the death penalty.

France, Germany, Hungary, Chile, Costa Rica, Switzerland, Australia and Spain condemned the mass death sentences and demanded a freeze of executions.