HUMAN “If You Are Afraid for Your Lives, RIGHTS Leave Sinai!” WATCH Egyptian Security Forces and ISIS-Affiliate Abuses in North Sinai “If You Are Afraid for Your Lives, Leave Sinai!” Egyptian Security Forces and ISIS-Affiliate Abuses in North Sinai Copyright © 2019 Human Rights Watch All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America ISBN: 978-1-6231-37359 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 Amman, 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 MAY 2019 ISBN: 978-1-6231-37359 “If You Are Afraid for Your Lives, Leave Sinai!” Egyptian Security Forces and ISIS-Affiliate Abuses in North Sinai Map of North Sinai, Egypt .................................................................................................... i Summary ........................................................................................................................... 1 Government Abuses ................................................................................................................. 3 ISIS-Affiliate Sinai Province Group Abuses ............................................................................... 8 Recommendations ............................................................................................................ 10 To the Egyptian Government and the Egyptian Army ................................................................ 10 To the Egyptian Parliament ..................................................................................................... 11 To the Ministry of Justice and Egypt’s Prosecutor General Office .............................................. 11 To the National Council of Human Rights ................................................................................. 12 To the Israeli Government ....................................................................................................... 12 To All Parties to the Conflict, including the Self-Declared Sinai Province Militants .................... 12 To the United States Administration ........................................................................................ 12 To the US Congress ................................................................................................................. 13 To All Egypt’s International Partners ........................................................................................ 14 To the UN Human Rights Council, Special Rapporteurs, Security Council Bodies, and Office of Counter-Terrorism ................................................................................................................... 14 To the African Union and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights .................... 15 Methodology .................................................................................................................... 16 I.Background ................................................................................................................... 19 North Sinai Conflict in Numbers .............................................................................................. 19 Roots of the North Sinai Conflict ............................................................................................ 20 A New Kind of Militancy .......................................................................................................... 23 Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis .............................................................................................................. 24 Beginning of Militarization in North Sinai ................................................................................ 25 Joining the Islamic State ........................................................................................................ 26 Increasingly Abusive Counterinsurgency Campaign ................................................................. 30 II.Legal Analysis .............................................................................................................. 34 High Level of Violence and Protracted Nature of the North Sinai Conflict .................................. 35 Sinai Province’s Level of Organization ..................................................................................... 36 International Law and Egypt’s National Laws ........................................................................... 37 War Crimes and other International Crimes ............................................................................ 40 Command Chain .................................................................................................................... 46 Arms’ Suppliers ...................................................................................................................... 47 III.Mass Arbitrary Arrests and Enforced Disappearances .................................................. 49 Photos and Videos Showing Detainees ................................................................................... 58 Detaining Children .................................................................................................................. 61 Interior Ministry Forces’ Involvement ...................................................................................... 64 Unlawful Confiscations and Theft by Security Forces .............................................................. 66 IV.Extrajudicial Killings ................................................................................................... 69 Cases of Extrajudicial Killings of Detainees ............................................................................ 69 Video Evidence of Extrajudicial Killings ................................................................................... 72 Absence of Investigations and Accountability ......................................................................... 75 V.Unlawful Killings at Checkpoints and During Raids ....................................................... 78 VI.Ill-treatment, Torture, and Death in Detention .............................................................. 82 VII.Role of the Pro-Army Militias ...................................................................................... 91 Involvement in Raids ............................................................................................................. 94 Involvement in Torture ........................................................................................................... 96 Demanding Money and Bribes ............................................................................................... 96 VIII.Possible Unlawful Air and Ground Attacks ................................................................. 98 Incidents of Possible Unlawful Shelling................................................................................. 100 Possible Internal Investigations ............................................................................................ 105 IX.Sinai Province Abuses Against Sinai Residents ........................................................... 107 Abducting and Torturing Residents ....................................................................................... 109 Execution of Local Residents ................................................................................................ 112 Carrying Out Attacks Next to Residents’ Homes ...................................................................... 115 Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................... 119 Appendix I: Letter to the Ministry of Defense .................................................................. 120 Appendix II: Letter to North Sinai Governor (Arabic) .........................................................124 Appendix III: Letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ................................... 127 Appendix IV: Imagery and Descriptions of Sinai Detention Facilities ............................... 129 A. Camp al-Zohor .................................................................................................................. 129 B. Battalion 101 Military Base .................................................................................................131 C. Al-Galaa Military Base ....................................................................................................... 132 Map of North Sinai, Egypt Summary “Should we carry weapons and work with the militants, or work with the army, or [accept to] live like victims?” —Sinai resident flogged by ISIS-affiliate militants and later punished by the army, Rafah City, late 2015. Since 2011, the Egyptian military and police have battled ISIS-affiliated militants in North Sinai governorate. Sparsely populated, and with roughly half-a-million residents, this northern part of