2023-08-14 08:45:00
© REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed
The tenth anniversary of the Rabaa massacre is a stark reminder of how impunity for the mass murder of more than 900 people has over the past decade allowed for an outright attack on peaceful dissent, an erosion of fair trial safeguards in the of criminal justice and unspeakable cruelty in prisons. This was stated by Amnesty International today.
In a detailed analysis, the organization highlights 10 human rights issues that have plagued Egypt since the massacre on August 14, 2013, in which military and security forces violently dispersed sit-ins in Rabaa al Adawiya and Al Nahda squares. , in Cairo, held by supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and deposed President Mohamed Morsi. Ten years later, not a single authority has been held accountable for the bloodshed, which highlights the more general lack of justice and reparation for the families of the victims and for the survivors of torture, enforced disappearances, extrajudicial executions and other unlawful killings, and arbitrary detention.
“The last ten years can only be described as a ‘decade of shameto’. The Rabaa massacre was a turning point after which the Egyptian authorities have relentlessly pursued a policy of zero tolerance for dissent. Since then, countless people who criticized or opposed the government have been killed in street protests, languished behind bars or forced into exile,” said Philip Luther, Director of Research and Advocacy at Amnesty International for Middle East and North Africa.
“The lack of a strong and coordinated response from the international community to the Rabaa massacre has allowed the Egyptian army and security forces to literally get away with mass murder. There is no hope that Egypt will emerge from its current human rights crisis if its authorities are not held accountable for that darkest day in the country’s modern history. States that have influence over Egypt must echo the requests of survivors, families of victims and human rights defenders, who demand truth, justice and reparation.”
1. Repression of street protests
Since 2013, the Egyptian government has succeeded in stamping out street protests by adopting draconian laws that effectively criminalize the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, and by using unlawful force and mass arrests.
2. Arbitrary detention
Egyptian authorities detained tens of thousands of people during and in the aftermath of the Rabaa massacre. Although they initially attacked supporters or suspected supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, their crackdown soon spread to all peaceful critics.
Despite recent reform gestures through the launch of the National Human Rights Strategy in September 2021 and the long-awaited National Dialogue in May 2023, the repression shows little sign of abating as arrests of critics of the government continue. government. Although hundreds of dissidents have been released since the reactivation of the Presidential Pardons Committee in 2022, members and supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood have been excluded from official pardons, and thousands remain unjustly imprisoned.
3. Unfair trials
Authorities have adopted and used draconian anti-terrorism legislation and other repressive tactics to hold thousands of government critics in prolonged pre-trial detention without charge or trial, sometimes for periods exceeding the legal maximum limit of two years. egyptian.
Los emergency or military courtsor special criminal court circuits dedicated to terrorism, have sentenced hundreds of people to death or long prison terms in grossly unfair and torture-marred mass trials.
4. Death penalty
Over the past ten years, the authorities have intensified their use of the death penalty to suppress dissent: thousands of death sentences have been imposed by the courts and more than 400 people have been executed by the authorities. In September 2018, a Cairo Criminal Court sentenced 75 people to death and 47 to life imprisonment, and imposed harsh prison terms of between 5 and 15 years on 612 people, all in a grossly unfair mass trial, in connection with his participation in the Rabaa sit-in protest. On July 14, 2021, the Court of Cassation upheld the death sentences of 12 people, including leading figures from the Muslim Brotherhood.
5. Attacks against freedom of expression
The Egyptian authorities have cracked down on all kinds of independent reporting, thus consolidating their grip on the media and cracking down, through a series of repressive tactics, journalists who dared to deviate from the national discourse. Those tactics include the arrest and prosecution of dozens of journalists for doing their jobs, online censorship, and raids on independent media outlets.
6. Reduction of space for civil society
Independent civil society has seen its voice silenced through the adoption of the repressive Law 149/2019, which grants the authorities excessively broad powers over the registration, activities, financing and dissolution of NGOs.
Human rights defenders have also come under relentless attacksuch as unfair prosecutions, arbitrary arrests, travel bans, asset freezes and other forms of harassment.
7. Torture and other ill-treatment
Those detained in the Rabaa crackdown, and thousands of others, are languishing in cruel and inhumane conditions in Egyptian prisons. Since 2013, dozens of people have died in custody between allegations of torture and denial of medical care. Among the victims are ousted President Mohamed Morsi and Essam El Erian, a prominent Muslim Brotherhood figure, who died in prison in 2019 and 2020, respectively, after years of unsuccessfully denouncing poor prison conditions and denial of care. medical.
Torture and other ill-treatment is widespread and systematic, with survivors and witnesses alike reporting the use of electric shocks, hanging by the legs or arms, indefinite solitary confinement, beatings and deliberate denial of medical care.
8. Enforced disappearances
Las security forces routinely hold incommunicado accused of participating in terrorist acts or protests, denying their families and lawyers any information about their fate and whereabouts, for periods ranging from a few days to 23 months. During this time, detainees are subjected to torture and other ill-treatment and coerced into “confessing” or incriminating others.
9. Discrimination
The authorities have claimed to respect and protect the rights of women and minorities, but have subjected men, women, boys and girls to discrimination based on their sex, gender identity, sexual orientation and religious beliefs.
10. Impunity
The collective prosecution of Muslim Brotherhood members and supporters is in stark contrast to the lack of investigation and accountability of those who ordered, planned or committed abuses in the August 14, 2013 massacre.
An investigative committee established by then interim president Adly Mansour in December 2013 concluded that the leaders of the protests were the guilty of the murders of Rabaa and practically exempted the security forces from responsibility. Impunity was further entrenched after Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al Sisi ratified a law in 2018 granting senior military commanders immunity from prosecution.
“Today’s grim anniversary should remind the international community of the desperate need to create meaningful avenues of accountability.such as the establishment of a mechanism for monitoring and reporting on the human rights situation in Egypt to the UN Human Rights Council,” said Philip Luther.
“States should also put pressure on the Egyptian authorities, both in public and in private, to release thousands of arbitrarily detained critics or opponents of the government, including those with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.”
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