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Human Rights Watch Denied Entry to Egypt

August 11, 2014
Human Rights Watch Executive Director, Kenneth Roth, was denied entry to Egypt.

Two of Human Rights Watch (HRW) top staff were denied entry to Egypt at Cairo airport upon arriving on Sunday for “security reasons” after being held for 12 hours, the group’s staff said on Monday.

Executive Director Kenneth Roth and Middle East and North Africa Director Sarah Leah Whitson were denied entry to Egypt and deported after they had flown to present a report of the  dispersal of Rabaa Al Adaweya and El Nahda, which left hundreds dead a year ago.

“Rabaa massacre numbers rank with Tiananmen and Andijan but #Egypt government would not let me in to present report on it,” Roth stated on twitter.

Roth and Whitson flew to Cairo to hold a press conference on Tuesday with the results of a year-long investigation on the dispersal of the Rabaa encampment.

The press conference titled, “All According to Plan: The Rabaa Massacre and Mass Killings of Protesters in Egypt,” would launch the 188-page report by the HRW, including interviews with over 200 witnesses.

According to the events invitation, “the report concludes that the systematic and widespread killings likely amount to crimes against humanity.”
The report also, “documents the manner in which Egyptian police and army forces methodically opened fire on crowds of demonstrators opposed to the military’s July 3 ouster of [former president] Mohamed Morsi at six demonstrations in July and August 2013.”

Human Rights Watch is one of many human rights groups that has expressed concern over the mass killings of protestors and have criticized the government for the dispersal of Rabaa encampment, which took place weeks after the removal of the elected Islamist President Mohamed Mursi from power.

“We came to Egypt to release a serious report on a serious subject that deserves serious attention from the Egyptian government,” the Executive Director said in a statement delivered by the group.

“Instead of denying the messenger entry to Egypt, the Egyptian authorities should seriously consider our conclusions and recommendations and respond with constructive action.”

The report will be released on Tuesday as scheduled.

Airport officials quoted by Reuters said that Roth and Whitson were denied entry and deported after receiving instructions from unnamed security officials.

The airport officials said that the two directors informed security authorities while getting their passports checked that they were entering Egypt to attend the one-year anniversary of the deaths of hundreds of Islamist protesters in Rabaa.

 

Comments (8)

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  2. lorien says:

    Great decision for i am pretty sure that none of the human rights organizations know about the reality of Rabaa and the atrocities done by the so called peaceful protesters.
    i bet that none of the human rights organizations know about the civilians which have been living in terror for more than one month because of the sit-in of Rabaa, being sequestrated inside their own houses, not being able to buy food or medications out of fear of the fanatics sitting in Rabaa.
    also i can bet that they don’t know about the tent made by the those sitting in Rabaa and about the sentences given under the roof of that tent to those which refused to join them (sentences like: enemy of Allah and the prophet, blasphemer and so on…..starts to sound like ISIS or what?! )or the torture or the killings of innocent people which refused to join the sit-in.
    i bet also that they do not know about the fact that the bodies of those dragged inside of the tent (orphan children, beggars or even just casual passengers in the area) were first buried in the yards of the villa’s nearby the sit-in and,when the police and the army started the dispersal of the sit-in, the bodies were exhumed by those that made the sit-in and spread at the scene to be presented as the victims that fell under the shootings which took place and the blame to be put on the police and the army.
    i have seen with my own eyes and others like me saw through so many videos and not only how those in the sit-in started to burn their own tents once the police made the announcement that they want for the place to be cleared of people.
    i bet that also the announcement of the police was not even mentioned to the human rights organizations. an announcement which was done clear and loud without enticing violence or panic.