Amnesty International demanded the Egyptian attorney general, on Thursday, investigate a video published by the military spokesman on social media showing killings that could be extrajudicial executions.
On 1 August, the military spokesman published a video including a statement from Egypt’s armed forces over its warfare in Sinai against the local ISIS branch, Wilyet Sinai. The statement said that the military killed 89 dangerous terrorists, and the video showed a soldier shooting a person at close range while this person was sleeping in a tent, and another unarmed person running away while a jet fighter targeted him with hails of bullets.
“The deeply disturbing footage in this Egyptian military propaganda video, which celebrates the armed forces’ deliberate cold-blooded killings of two unarmed people clearly not posing a threat to life, offers a glimpse of the shocking crimes committed in the name of countering terrorism in Egypt,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Research and Advocacy Director for the Middle East and North Africa. “The Egyptian public prosecution must immediately launch effective, impartial and independent investigations into these apparent extrajudicial executions, with the view to bringing those responsible to justice in fair trials before civilian courts.”
Amnesty International called on the international society to urgently stop arms sales to the Egyptian regime. “The USA must ensure that the release of foreign military funding earmarked for Egypt – one of the largest long-term recipients of military aid – is subject to the government taking tangible measures to end human rights violations in the country and hold security officials accountable,” said Philip Luther.
