• EGYPT
  • November 28, 2014
  • 6 minutes read

Anti-Coup Jurists: ‘Fact-Finding’ Report Breaches Justice, Impartiality, Independence Standards

Anti-Coup Jurists: ‘Fact-Finding’ Report Breaches Justice, Impartiality, Independence Standards

 The anti-coup Independence of the Judiciary Front (IJF) in Egypt rejects a report released today by the junta’s Fact-Finding Committee (FFC) as irrefutable evidence of attempts to hide the truth and safeguard rather than combat impunity for perpetrators of gross human rights violations.



IJF said that right from the outset, the FFC was intent on overlooking the involvement of Ministry of Defense officials in the killing of protesters, documenting crimes committed by Interior Ministry officials only – the same approach adopted in the flawed report issued earlier by the junta’s National Council for Human Rights.


In a statement, IJF said: "The truth has become clearer today, more than ever, as the FFC, headed by Dr. Fouad Riad, issues a report that reveals the crude lies blatantly told to the Egyptian people and international public opinion about the systematic killings and fascist crimes committed by coup commanders and collaborators after July 3, 2013.


IJF stresses that the report is full of fallacies, factual errors and false information that confirm IJF’s concerns expressed after the FFC’s interview of Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi, one of those wanted for involvement in human genocide crimes in the Rabaa and Nahda massacres – among other crimes, where the FFC in its politicized statement, which completely ignored justice, integrity and impartiality standards, insisted on directly supporting criminals to escape with impunity.


That evident bias and flagrant impartiality and lack of independence transformed the FFC into a tool for the implementation of a junta scheme the details of which are fast coming to light, after the effective abolition of the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law, the IJF statement went on.


IJF further assured that the release of the report with its flawed content will not change legally-established facts, thoroughly documented charges and accusations, or eyewitness accounts of military coup commanders’ crimes. It pointed that the fraudulent report is fully consistent with the political prejudices of Dr. Fouad Riad, the FFC Chairman, and represents his performance as a partisan supporter of the illegitimate coup and the ruling military junta, in which he eliminated rather than established justice.


IJF reiterated that the FFC was formed away from international standards for fact-finding committees, in absence of representatives of the victims’ families, civil society (especially human rights) organizations, and with no financial and administrative independence from the government.


Furthermore, IJF pointed that a number of members of Dr. Fouad Riad’s FFC, eg Justice Omar Marawan, participated in two fact-finding committees since February 11, 2011 after Mubarak’s ouster, and did not offer public opinion or bring to justice any facts, nor did they take any legal action to exact retribution from those involved in gross crimes as documented in their reports. Those, IJF continued, proved Mubarak and senior officials in his regime were guilty of murder and corruption. Those two committees then agreed to freeze their efforts, although the legitimate President Mohamed Morsi (currently held captive by junta authorities) took solid steps to establish a specialized prosecution department to exact retribution, which was suspended by coup authorities later.


IJF affirms that the report is being further studied and analyzed, and a more comprehensive response will detail all its blatant lies and fraud. It added that the report will be examined by IJF with the assistance of concerned parties such as human rights organization that support martyrs, detainees and the wounded, as they seek to prosecute FFC members and blacklisted coup commanders accused of abolishing justice in Egypt after the criminal military coup on July 3, 2013. IJF stresses that it completely rejects all the lies and false information stated in the FFC report.


In conclusion, IJF warns that Egypt, with this fraudulent report released by Dr. Fouad Riad, is treading the wrong path for justice, which makes it a must for all parties concerned with human rights in the world to stand up against this report in order to restore for Egypt fair justice and retribution.