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2014-11-06 International-UN-NGOs
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Egypt Crackdown on Activists, Morsi Supporters Under Fire at U.N.
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[AnNahar] The U.N.'s top human rights
...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty ...
body took Egypt to task Wednesday for a litany of rights abuses, including its crackdown on supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi, journalists and activists.
| Is that the one generally headed by countries like Iran and Cuba? |
In the Human Rights Council's first review of Egypt's rights record since 2010, which covers the period since long-ruling leader Hosni Mubarak
...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011...
was toppled to the turbulent ousting of Morsi, several Western envoys voiced alarm at the worsening human rights situation in Egypt.
Rights groups including Amnesia Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch
... During the fiscal year ended June 30, 2011, HRW received a pledge from the Foundation to Promote Open Society, of which George Soros is Chairman, for general support totaling $100,000,000. The grant is being paid in installments of $10,000,000 over ten years.Through June 30, 2013, HRW had received $30,000,000 towards the fulfillment of the pledge....
said the situation is unprecedented and urged the council to order an international probe into the crackdown, mass arrests and unfair trials.
But Egypt hit back, insisting that the government of Abdel Fattah al-Sissi had made human rights a priority since toppling Morsi in June last year.
"The prioritization of human rights is at the core of the political life of the new administration," Egyptian Minister of Transitional Justice Ibrahim el-Heneidy told the council.
"Egypt will fulfill its international obligations," he said.
But Western diplomats voiced doubts.
U.S. envoy Keith Harper cited in particular the government's crackdown on Morsi supporters in July and August 2013 that "resulted in a large number of deaths of Egyptian citizens."
"We are concerned about the lack of accountability for those accused of human rights abuses" in these incidents, he told the council.
Sisi's government began clamping down on Morsi supporters after the Islamist president was ousted in July 2013, leaving at least 1,400 dead and more than 15,000 jugged
Please don't kill me!
. Hundreds have also been sentenced to death after often speedy trials.
Over a period of just a few days of festivities in Cairo in August 2013, police potted hundreds of protesters.
Britannia's Karen Pierce raised concern over "the numbers of detainees in pre-trial detention, reports of mistreatment or torture, use of mass trials and trial irregularities (and) retention of the death penalty."
She also decried the decreasing space for civil society and the media to operate."
Sweden's representative meanwhile highlighted "the precarious situation of women in Egypt," calling for legislative reform to "combat sexual harassment and gender-based violence."
Seven Egyptian non-governmental organizations announced Wednesday that they would not participate in the U.N.'s Universal Periodic Review, which all 193 U.N. countries must undergo every four years, for fear of reprisal.
Cairo has set a November 10 deadline for all NGOs to register with the government, in a move activists warn will deal a death blow to the country's civil society.
"Civil society is on the verge of disappearing," warned Philippe Dam of Human Rights Watch.
Nicholas Piachaud of Amnesty warned via video link that many people in Egypt were facing "grossly unfair trials", while others were disappearing and "torture is once again rife."
"All of these things are happening against the backdrop of rampant discrimination," he said, demanding "robust action" from the council. 
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Posted by trailing wife 2014-11-06 00:00||
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Posted by g(r)omgoru 2014-11-06 15:15||
2014-11-06 15:15||
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Posted by Frank G 2014-11-06 18:56||
2014-11-06 18:56||
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