Amnesty International: Killing of detainees, police conscripts must be equally condemned

Monday 19-08-2013 11:28 PM
Amnesty International: Killing of detainees, police conscripts must be equally condemned

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Amnesty International said that the killing of conscripts in Sinai on Monday and the killing of detainees at Abu Zaabal Prison on Sunday must be equally condemned.

The organization said that the evidence it gathered on violence in Egypt leaves little room for doubt that security forces hardly have any regard for human life.

Egypt’s Ministry of Interior said on Sunday that 36 detainees of the Muslim Brotherhood were killed while they were transported to Abu Zaabal Prison.

On Monday morning, 25 conscripts were killed by unknown assailants in North Sinai.

Violence broke out in Egypt last week when security forces attempted to clear out protest camps for allies of ousted President Mohamed Mursi in Cairo. Hundreds were killed and thousands were injured over the span of a few days.

“There must be a full, impartial and effective investigation into the shocking loss of life that has taken place in Egypt over the last week, with full accountability for whoever committed or ordered the unwarranted lethal crackdown,” the organization said in a statement in issued on Monday.

On its Twitter account, Amnesty admitted that protesters resorted to violence, yet it added that the authorities’ response was terribly inadequate.

The authorities used deadly force although there was no need for it, the organization said.

Apparently security forces could not differentiate between protesters who resort to violence and peaceful protesters, it added.

“UN experts – especially the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions – must be given access to the country to investigate the circumstances of the violence and the pattern of excessive and unwarranted lethal force,” said Salil Shetty, Secretary General of Amnesty International.

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