Amnesty International said Tuesday that violent crackdowns on protesters, torture of detainees and disregard for the rule of law by police forces continues in Egypt, nearly 20 months after mass rallies removed president Hosni Mubarak and his regime from power.
In a report titled ‘Agents of Repression: Egypt’s Police and the Case for Reform’, Amnesty said there was little sign that Egypt’s security forces have fundamentally changed.
The report says President Mohamed Morsy and the new government had so far taken no action against the widespread abuse of protesters and prisoners.
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“The different interior ministers that headed the police force since last year’s uprising have repeatedly announced their commitment to reforming the police and respecting human rights, but so far reforms have merely scratched the surface,” said Amnesty’s Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui.
“Instead, they have tried to restore emergency-like legislation in the name of restoring security,” said Ms. Sahraoui.
The London-based right group said that, under the rule of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), which governed Egypt for a year and half after the ouster of Mr. Mubarak in February 2011, a raft of human rights abuses took place, including live ammunition being turned on demonstrators.
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It highlighted several instances where police used lethal force during clashes with protesters in 2011 and 2012, and said that some protesters were given electric shocks, sexually threatened and abused by military troops.