Police and soldiers protect themselves with riot shields as supporters of ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi throw stones during clashes near Rabaa Adawiya square in Cairo August 14, 2013.ASMAA WAGUIH/Reuters
On the one-year anniversary of the bloodiest massacre in modern Egyptian history, Human Rights Watch has published a detailed account of the government crackdown that left hundreds dead and forever changed the trajectory of Egypt's Arab Spring.
The human rights group's conclusion is simple: What took place on August 14, 2013 likely constitutes a crime against humanity – a crime for which, so far, nobody has been held accountable.
Following the July 3rd military-led ouster of Mohamed Morsi, Egypt's first democratically elected President, supporters of Mr. Morsi staged what became an indefinite protest calling for his release and reinstatement. The largest of the protests took place in Rab'a al-Adawiya Square in eastern Cairo.
On August 14, Egyptian security forces moved to clear the camp by force. What followed was a 12-hour siege of the square that left at least 817 people dead, according to HRW's numbers (the Egyptian government pegs the number of people killed at 627).
In the narrative put forward by the Egyptian government, the killings were a direct result of violence initiated by Mr. Morsi's supporters – the government marks the killing of a policeman as the opening salvo. Based on that premise, the 12 hours of bloodshed that followed were the result of clashes between members of the Muslim Brotherhood (now a designated terrorist group in Egypt) and security forces looking to restore the peace.
The government's narrative still enjoys strong support among many Egyptians – in part because the government has imprisoned or otherwise silenced many of its most vocal critics, but also because a massive segment of the Egyptian population considers the Muslim Brotherhood an Islamist terrorist group that must be defeated at any cost (Mr. Morsi was a longtime Brotherhood member).
In the span of 188 pages, the Human Rights Watch reports in detail exactly what that cost entailed on August 14. According to the report's findings, security forces entered Rab'a Square early in the morning through five different entrances. The ensuing assault on demonstrators began with tear gas but very quickly escalated to live rounds. The onslaught continued for about 12 hours, and included instances in which security officers fired directly into a nearby hospital, according to HRW witnesses.
"This wasn't a case of security forces pinpointing particular armed elements within the demonstration and having collateral damage as a result," said Omar Shakir, an HRW researcher who helped compile the report.
"This was a plan that envisioned opening fire on crowds, tens of thousands of largely peaceful protesters for hours on end without safe exit for women, children and those seeking to flee the violence."
The report also claims that the assault was at the highest levels of government, including the office of current President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who was defence minister at the time.
There is little chance the report, regardless of the merit of its contents, will do much to convince the Egyptian government to change its position. On the eve of the report's launch, two HRW staff members were denied entry to the country (the government claims the two did not obtain the correct type of visa beforehand). Following the report's publication, Egypt's State Information Service – a clearinghouse of sorts for official government statements – called it "negative and biased," adding that researchers depended in large part on the "accounts of unidentified witnesses and biased and untrusted sources."
The HRW report comes amid more signs that Egypt's new, post-revolution normal includes very little tolerance for dissenting voices.
On Monday, Egypt's public prosecutor announced an investigation of Ahmed Maher, a democracy activist, for the crime of high treason. Mr. Maher is already serving a three-year sentence for breaking the country's protest laws – the new treason investigation centres on an op-ed he wrote from prison which ran in the Washington Post. In the op-ed, Mr. Maher argued that Egypt's new ruling regime no longer tolerates criticism.