- EGYPT
- January 25, 2018
- 6 minutes read
Rights Group: Military Regime Killed 571 Political Opponents in 2017
The Egyptian Coordination Committee for Rights and Freedoms confirmed that the military regime, headed by General Abdel Fattah El Sisi, had killed 571 of its opponents in 2017, of which 511 were killed by the Egyptian security forces, where the month of July witnessed the peak of killing with 75 victims.
In its annual report on the human rights situation in Egypt in 2017, issued on Saturday, the Coordination Committee pointed out that 15 executions were carried out in December alone, and 51 detainees were killed as a result of deliberate medical negligence, including 4 deaths in April alone.
In its report titled: "A Cry of Homeland", the Coordination Committee mentioned that the same year witnessed the death of 88 policemen and army personnel, 15 Christians in sectarian strife, and 532 Muslims at Al Rawda mosque in Sinai.
The report added that the year 2017 was the most in issuing death sentences, which included 65 cases adjudicated by the Egyptian judiciary during the past year, including 14 in the military courts, and 51 cases in the civilian courts, including 8 cases were handed final judgments, 10 cases awaiting the appeal proceedings, and 4 cases still waiting for the opinion of the Mufti authorizing death penalty.
According to the report, the Giza governorate ranked first with 17 cases, followed by Cairo14 cases, Sinai 7 cases, Dakahlia governorate 6 cases, then the governorates of Alexandria, Menia, and Beheira with 3 cases each. The governorates of Port Said and Gharbia ranked eighth with two cases each, then the governorates of Sharqiyyah, Menoufia, Fayoum, Damietta, Beni Suef and Matrouh with one case each.
According to the report, 2017 witnessed a marked increase in medical negligence against detainees, in addition to prison administrations adopting illegal punitive measures, such as deliberate medical negligence of 79 cases, including two women, as well as 37 cases of torture. The last year witnessed 1477 cases of arbitrary detention, most of them were in November with 179 cases, followed by December with 168 cases, July with 146 cases, August with 139 cases, followed by October with 118 cases, April with 106 in April, and the rest were scattered over other months.
With regard to forcible disappearances, the report noticed the disappearance of 602 Egyptians, beside 160 cases for which the report authors were unable to obtain adequate information. Students are the most targeted by forcible disappearances, with 114 cases of forcibly student disappearances, including 17 high school students and one middle school student. The report also noted 25 cases of university professor arbitrary dismissal from their jobs, beside the arrest of five other professors, and the forcible disappearance of 3 others.
As for media and press freedoms, the report noted that the year 2017 ranked first with respect to the number of journalist arrests, which reached 27 cases during the year, including 4 women journalists, and 28 other journalists were listed on terror lists, although a number of them were acquitted. In addition, 465 websites and electronic newspaper were blocked.
The report confirmed that 2017 witnessed the arrest of 52 women and girls, 16 of whom were sentenced, 36 others are still in remand detention, and 125 women and girls are forcibly disappeared. As such, the number of forcibly disappeared females since the July 2013 coup until the end of 2017 is 148 women and girls. The report also noted 65 serious violations against children under the age of 18, violations that vary from forcible disappearance and arbitrary detention to the physical liquidation of four children, divided equally between the governorates of Alexandria and Giza.