Cairo: A group of 27 countries on the United Nations Human Rights Council expressed concerns Friday over the Egyptian government’s wide-scale use of violence against opposition protesters, the first reprimand from the international body since a bloody crackdown on dissent in the country began.
The declaration comes after Egyptian security forces forcibly dispersed supporters of toppled Islamist President Mohammad Mursi on August 14, killing hundreds.
In the UN declaration, the 27 countries, among them the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Turkey, called on the Egyptian government to be held accountable for its actions over the past months, and for any future investigations’ findings to be made public.
“We express concern about the restrictions on the rights to peaceful assembly, expression and association, and about the disproportionate use of lethal force by security forces against demonstrators which resulted in large numbers of deaths and injuries,” the declaration read. “Security forces have a duty to respect the right to peaceful assembly ... even when faced with persistent security challenges.”
Activists welcomed the declaration.
“Egyptian authorities are now on notice that the international community will not ignore their crackdown on dissent and impunity for repeated, unlawful killings of protesters,” said Julie de Rivero, Geneva director at Human Rights Watch.
Protests and clashes continue almost weekly around the country, with Mursi supporters calling for protests nearly every Friday since the military ousted Mursi in July.
On Friday, clashes erupted in several places, including the Alf Maskan neighbourhood of Cairo. The Egyptian Health Ministry said in a statement that three people were killed in the clashes and 28 were injured. The three were killed in Cairo while the injuries were mostly from four provinces, the ministry said.
Khaled Al Khateeb, head of the Health Ministry’s emergency and intensive care department, said some of the injuries were from birdshot, which is frequently used in clashes.
