CAIRO: The official fact-finding mission investigating the death toll of Egypt’s revolution released on Tuesday its final report, saying that at least 846 were killed and 6,467 injured during the popular uprising that toppled the Egyptian regime and forced president Hosni Mubarak to step down in February.
According to a 30-page summary of the 400-page report, the revolution also left 26 officers and one prisoner dead.
Initial statistics by the Ministry of Health put the death toll during the revolution at 384, even though the independent Front to Defend Egypt’s Protestors (FDEP) had claimed that the number was closer to 685.
The report confirmed that police fired live ammunition at peaceful protesters across Egypt starting Jan. 25, adding police only use live rounds if they are authorized to do so by a committee headed by the interior minister and high ranking officers.
"The fatal shots were due to firing bullets at the head and the chest," the report read, adding that "a huge number of eye injures," filled hospitals, and hundreds lost their sight.
The mission held Mubarak ultimately responsible for the killing of the protesters since his interior minister, Habib El-Adly, had issued the orders to open fire.
Former Interior Minister Habib El-Adly is facing trial on April 24 for the premeditated murder of protesters, the attempted murder of others as well as inflicting major damages to public and private property which had a negative impact on the economy.
Mubarak and his sons Gamal and Alaa are also being investigated on suspicion of involvement in the killing of protesters during the 18-day uprising.
On Tuesday, prosecutors questioned former intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, who was briefly vice president in Mubarak’s last days in office, in connection with violence against protesters, the general prosecutor’s office said.
"What is confirmed is that Mubarak’s permission (to use live fire on protesters) must be obtained. The shooting lasted for several days, and he did not hold accountable those who fired live rounds," judge Omar Marwan, the mission’s secretary general, said at a press conference on Tuesday.
"That confirms his involvement in responsibility," he said.
Regarding the violent attack on Tahrir Square on Feb. 2, using horses and camels, the report said that protesters in Tahrir detained some of the “thugs” and their IDs proved that they were plain-clothed policemen and members of the former ruling National Democratic Party.
Marwan said that the snipers who shot live ammunition at protesters in Tahrir that day were officers from the anti-terrorism department.
Witnesses told the mission that the raid was organized by members of the now defunct National Democratic Party who were also MPs in the dissolved People’s Assembly and Shoura Council as well as some policemen.
A former army official told the mission that the police had orders to withdraw from their posts and wear civilian clothes on Jan. 28, a claim that was backed by witnesses in Al-Kasr El-Aini hospital.
The report’s summary did not accuse officials by name, but Marwan said the mission had submitted a list of dozens of officials accused of involvement in the crackdown to the general prosecutor.
The enquiry is based on accounts of 17,058 officials and eyewitnesses along with 800 video clips and pictures obtained from individuals who were present at the protests, Marwan said.
The mission also investigated the incident captured in a YouTube video, in which a white van ran over several protesters on Qasr El-Aini Street on Jan. 28.
The report said that the van was found dismantled near a police station and its owner couldn’t be identified through the traffic department or customs, adding that an officer testified that the van was reportedly stolen from the US Embassy, but that investigations were under way to uncover the details surrounding the incident.
The enquiry also addressed the security vacuum that began on the night of Jan 28 when the military was deployed. The complete absence of police left the streets of Cairo and other governorates unguarded for weeks, as dozens of suspects and prisoners escaped prisons all over the country in the following days.
The report cited videos that showed the police encouraging prisoners to escape in order to cause mayhem and frighten people.
Prisoners escaped from 11 of Egypt’s 41 prisons, representing 26 percent of prisons, according to the report.
Palestinian group Hamas was also accused of breaking into Abou Zaabal prison in which 29 inmates affiliated with Hamas and Hezbollah were kept.
The report also stated that heavy artillery unlike anything used by Egyptian police or military was used in the break-in, and witnesses said Bedouins broke into the prison to help the Hamas inmates.
According to an announcement on Cabinet’s Facebook page, Marwan said that he will present the 400-page report to the Minister of Justice and the Prosecutor General to take the necessary action.
Taher Abou El-Nasr, human rights lawyer at the FDEP, told DNE that the report confirmed what all Egyptians knew about the involvement of the interior ministry in killing peaceful protesters and causing the security vacuum.
“However the evidence that the report presents will help us as human rights lawyers in supporting our legal cases against the regime,” said Abou El-Nasr. –Additional reporting by agencies.
