Leading Egyptian Human Rights Activists Give Police Clean Bill of Health Regarding Dispersal of Sit-Ins

Following are excerpts from a report on a meeting between Egyptian Interior Minister Muhammad Ibrahim and Egyptian human rights activists, which aired on MBC Misr TV on August 26, 2013.

Reporter: In keeping with the Interior Ministry's policy of supporting communication frameworks and engaging in cooperation with all the forces and movements in society, Minister of the Interior Muhammad Ibrahim met with some NGO directors and activists, who deal with human rights issues.

Hafez Abu Saada, head of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights: We want to ensure that security does not come at the expense of human rights. Our assessment of the conduct of the Interior Ministry has improved, because we have recently witnessed excellent conduct.

It abided by international standards in the dispersal of the two sit-ins. Indeed, there were some violations, and there were some victims, but this was the minimum possible figure, considering the sheer quantity of weapons in the two sit-ins.

The police suffered many casualties at this point, and we consider their sacrifice to be a badge of honor for Egypt. We support the security measures aimed at protecting the Egyptians, as well as public and private property.

Having said that, our message is that this should not contradict human rights.

I hope that the ministry will continue its policy of incorporating human rights into the new security policy in Egypt.

Prof. Saad Eddin Ibrahim, director of the Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies: We submitted a report to the Minister of the Interior, in which we documented what happened at Rabaa Al-Adawiya Square. We wrote that given the circumstances in which these events took place, the Egyptian police exercised the greatest possible restraint and adhered to international standards in the dispersal of the demonstrations…

Interviewer: You mean self-restraint?

Prof. Saad Eddin Ibrahim: Yes. This is what I said in Brussels ten days ago.

Reporter: The Interior Minister commended the patriotic role played by the NGOs and their pioneering efforts in the service of all issues of society. The participants stressed the need to support the police by making the facts known to all, without exaggeration or trivialization.

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