CAIRO: International rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned of the Egyptian military’s intention to control the investigation into the use of force against unarmed Coptic demonstrators in front of Maspero on Oct. 9, saying that it “raises fears of a cover-up,” in a report released Tuesday.
The report urged the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) to transfer the investigation into the killing of unarmed protesters by military forces from the military prosecution to an independent and impartial investigating body.
“The military cannot investigate itself with any credibility,” said HRW Deputy Middle East Director Joe Stork.
“This had been an essentially peaceful protest until the military used excessive force and military vehicles ran over protesters. The only hope for justice for the victims is an independent civilian-led investigation that the army fully cooperates with and cannot control and that leads to the prosecution of those responsible,” he continued.
HRW interviewed 20 participants in the demonstration who consistently testified that between 6 and 7 pm on Oct. 9 at least two armored personnel vehicles (APCs) drove recklessly through crowds of demonstrators, in some cases appearing to pursue them intentionally.
Hany Kamal, a lawyer, said he arrived at the Ramses Hilton Hotel, just south of Maspero, at about 6 pm when he saw two APCs “running crazy at very high speed.”
“I saw from the top of one of them there was a machine gun firing at the protesters. The first body I saw was of a man whose head was totally crushed. People were screaming, ‘His brain is out, his brain is out.’ I ran toward El Gala’a Street and there I saw a second body. People were lifting him up on their shoulders. I couldn’t tell if it was the result of a bullet or if a car ran over him.”
Another witness told HRW that he and other protesters were approaching Maspero from the south along the Corniche when soldiers wielding batons drove them back and other soldiers fired in the air.
HRW explained in its report that under international law, the military, in its law-enforcement capacity, may arrest people who are committing violent acts or who assault police or army officers. It may also use force, but only as necessary and proportionate, to control a crowd.
However, evidence from video and witness statements do not indicate any justification for running people over at high speed with army vehicles, this deliberate use of firearms is lawful only if “strictly unavoidable to protect life,” a high standard to meet, HRW said.
HRW also called for an investigation into attempts by the military and the information ministry to control media coverage, as well as the statements by state TV presenters that may have amounted to incitement to violence.
The rights organization referred to this failure to investigate and prosecute as perpetuating “official policies of the Mubarak era,” when authorities also failed to provide a remedy to victims of sectarian violence, resorted to extra-legal settlements to resolve disputes, and played down periodic outbursts of sectarian violence as private disputes unrelated to religious differences.
“The Egyptian authorities should also look into the underlying causes of the October 9 demonstration and address legitimate grievances by Coptic Christians,” stated HRW.
These grievances include discrimination in their right to build houses of worship and the failure to punish perpetrators and instigators of attacks on churches and other forms of sectarian violence, according to HRW.
HRW noted that three incidents of sectarian violence involving attacks on Christians and Christian churches since the February 2011 ouster of President Hosni Mubarak that have gone entirely unpunished.
Deadly clashes broke out between army forces and protesters on Oct. 9 when a march to Maspero — demanding Coptic rights and condemning an earlier attack against a church in Aswan — was itself met with violence.
The clashes left 27 people dead and over 300 injured.
