“Security Forces Dealt with Them” WATCH Suspicious Killings and Extrajudicial Executions by Egyptian Security Forces
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HUMAN RIGHTS “Security Forces Dealt with Them” WATCH Suspicious Killings and Extrajudicial Executions by Egyptian Security Forces “Security Forces Dealt with Them” Suspicious Killings and Extrajudicial Executions by Egyptian Security Forces Copyright © 2021 Human Rights Watch All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America ISBN: 978-1-62313-934-6 Cover design by Rafael Jimenez Human Rights Watch defends the rights of people worldwide. We scrupulously investigate abuses, expose the facts widely, and pressure those with power to respect rights and secure justice. Human Rights Watch is an independent, international organization that works as part of a vibrant movement to uphold human dignity and advance the cause of human rights for all. Human Rights Watch is an international organization with staff in more than 40 countries, and offices in Amsterdam, Beirut, Berlin, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Goma, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Nairobi, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto, Tunis, Washington DC, and Zurich. For more information, please visit our website: http://www.hrw.org SEPTEMBER 2021 ISBN: 978-1-62313-934-6 “Security Forces Dealt with Them” Suspicious Killings and Extrajudicial Executions by Egyptian Security Forces Summary ........................................................................................................................... 1 Recommendations .............................................................................................................. 8 To President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi .............................................................................................. 8 To the Egyptian Government .................................................................................................... 8 To Prosecutor General Hamada al-Sawy ................................................................................... 9 To the Egyptian Parliament ...................................................................................................... 9 To the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, European Union, its Member States, and all of Egypt’s International Partners ............................................................................................. 10 To the UN Human Rights Council ............................................................................................. 11 To the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism, UN Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate, UN Office of Drugs and Crime, and other UN Entities ................................................................ 12 To the African Union (AU) and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) ......................................................................................................... 12 Methodology .....................................................................................................................14 I. Background ................................................................................................................... 16 The Massacres of 2011 and 2013 ............................................................................................. 17 Enforced Disappearances ....................................................................................................... 19 Suspicious Killings ................................................................................................................ 20 “Your Hands Are Not Tied” ...................................................................................................... 25 II. Suspicious Killings and Probable Extra Judicial Executions .......................................... 28 Nine Muslim Brothers Killed in Giza, July 2015 ......................................................................... 34 Mu’tasim Ahmed al-Agizi .................................................................................................. 38 Three Men Killed in Assiut, December 2016 ............................................................................. 39 Abdelrahman Gamal ........................................................................................................ 41 Eight Men Killed on Their Way to Sudan, May 2017 .................................................................. 43 Mohamed Medhat al-Zanati Nasser .................................................................................. 45 Ibrahim Gamal al-Ghazali ................................................................................................ 49 Four Men Killed in Two Incidents in Alexandria and Cairo, June 2017 ........................................ 51 Sabry Sabah Khalil ........................................................................................................... 52 Abdel Zaher Yasin Mutawea ............................................................................................. 56 Ahmed Mohamed Abu Rashed .......................................................................................... 58 Mohamed Abdel Moniem Zaki Abu Tabeekh .................................................................... 60 Four Men Killed Near Ismailia, July 2017 .................................................................................. 63 Suhail Ahmed al-Mahy and Zakaria Mahmoud Nada ........................................................ 64 Eight Men Killed in Sinnouris, Fayoum Governorate, July 2017 ................................................ 69 Omar Adel Abdelbaqy...................................................................................................... 69 30 Men Killed in Two Raids in Giza, December 2018 ................................................................ 73 Questionable Statement and Photographs ....................................................................... 74 Ahmed Yousri and Ibrahim Hassan Ghadeer ..................................................................... 76 Nine Men Killed in Cairo, September 2019 .............................................................................. 80 Mahmoud Gharib ............................................................................................................ 80 III. Extrajudicial Executions Under International and Egyptian Law ................................... 83 International Legal Obligations ............................................................................................... 83 The Inherent Right to Life .................................................................................................. 83 Use of Firearms ............................................................................................................... 84 Obligation to Report and Investigate ................................................................................ 86 The Minnesota Protocol .................................................................................................... 87 The Prohibition on Enforced Disappearance ..................................................................... 92 Egyptian Laws ........................................................................................................................ 93 Systematic Failure to Investigate Abuses .......................................................................... 95 Security Entities and Officials Involved .................................................................................. 98 The National Security Agency .......................................................................................... 98 Other Interior Ministry Units and Officials ........................................................................ 99 The Supreme State Security Prosecution ......................................................................... 100 Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................... 101 Annex I: Human Rights Watch Letter Sent to Minister of Interior Mahmoud Tawfiq on April 27 and May 11, 2021 ....................................................................................................... 102 Annex II: Human Rights Watch Letter Sent to Prosecutor General Hamada al-Sawy on April 27 and May 11, 2021 ........................................................................................................105 Summary This report covers a pattern of suspicious killings and probable extrajudicial executions by Egyptian Interior Ministry forces of people who at the moment of their deaths apparently posed no life-threatening danger to security forces or others, and so amounted to deliberate and unlawful killings. In all of the cases documented here, the individuals appear to have been in custody prior to being killed and some were forcibly disappeared by National Security Agency forces. Following the military ouster of President Mohamed Morsy in July 2013, and particularly after the August 2013 violent dispersal of the pro-Morsy Rab’a sit-in when security forces killed at least 817 protesters in one day, Egypt witnessed a sharp rise in violent attacks by an array of armed Islamist groups, against security forces, government facilities, and civilians. Government and Interior Ministry statements almost always blamed these attacks on the Muslim Brotherhood, one of Egypt’s oldest and largest Islamist organization to which Morsy belonged and which was outlawed in 2013 following the military takeover. Under the pretext of combating terrorism, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s government has effectively