A New York-based rights group is protesting the detention of a key witness in its investigations into last summer’s mass killings in Cairo’s Rabaah al-Adawiya Square.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called for an international inquiry into government officials’ role in the slaying of more than 800 protesters during a security crackdown at the 2013 sit-in. President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi, who was Egypt’s military chief at the time the raid was carried out, has been cited by the group for crimes against humanity.
HRW’s executive director Kenneth Roth said of the massacre “In Rabaah Square, Egyptian security forces carried out one of the world’s largest killings of demonstrators in a single day in recent history (..) This wasn’t merely a case of excessive force or poor training. It was a violent crackdown planned at the highest levels of the Egyptian government.”
The HRW witness, Mohammed Tareq, who had previously given a statement detailing how he was shot in his chest and arms by government security agents, was detained during a protest in the city of Alexandria on Friday for allegedly illegally protesting and for belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Egypt has been the scene of anti-government protests with continuous clashes between security forces and ousted President Mohamed Morsi’s supporters since his ouster in July 2013. Following the ouster of Morsi, el-Sisi announced his candidacy for the nation’s presidency and was sworn in as president after winning an election in which less that 50 percent of eligible voters participated.
Rights groups say the army’s crackdown on the supporters of Morsi has left over 1,400 people dead and 22,000 others arrested.
