Johannesburg. 24 November 2011. CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation calls for immediate cessation of excessive and lethal force against peaceful protesters in Egypt.
Since 18 November 2011, 40 civilians have been killed by security forces and over 1700 injured in nationwide protests to demand concrete action on the transition to democratic rule and an end to human rights violations. Live ammunition and harmful tear gas have been indiscriminately used against unarmed protestors, some of whom have been deliberately run-over by military vehicles.“Instead of heeding to the legitimate demands of the protestors, the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) is reacting in the same thuggish manner as deposed president Mubarak,” said Ingrid Srinath, Secretary General of CIVICUS. “Their actions have stripped them of legitimacy in the eyes of the Egyptian people as well as of the international community.”
The SCAF, which assumed power in February 2011 with the promise of a peaceful transition to a civilian government, is increasingly turning a blind eye to the people’s demands for basic freedoms, respect for human rights and social justice said CIVICUS. The generals who run the SCAF have effectively transformed Egypt into a military state by reactivating and expanding the country’s emergency law in force under the previous regime.
Large numbers of Egyptians, including human rights activists, bloggers and journalists who criticise the army, have been arbitrarily summoned before military prosecutors and tried in military courts. Since January 2011, about 12000 civilians have been tried before military courts.
Civil society organisations have been publicly warned against criticising the present political dispensation and curbs have been placed on their ability to obtain international funding for their operations in breach of the rights guaranteed by the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.
CIVICUS condemns in the strongest terms, violations of the fundamental human rights of the Egyptian people by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces and demands an immediate end to the transgressions.
