Egyptian officials could face London arrest over massacres, say lawyers

Senior officials in Abdel Fatah al-Sisi’s regime in Egypt could face arrest for crimes against
humanity if they take up a UK government invitation to visit London, human rights lawyers say.

The warning comes a day before the second anniversary of the massacre of more than 800 protesters outside Cairo’s Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque, the worst of three mass killings of supporters of the ousted president Mohamed Morsi during the summer of 2013.

Last month David Cameron invited Sisi for bilateral talks in the UK, but Sisi has put off the visit due to fears that he or other members of his military regime could be detained if human rights lawyers sought arrest warrants from British courts on the basis of universal jurisdiction for mass crimes.

Toby Cadman, a war crimes lawyer, said he believed that was “almost certainly one of the reasons Sisi did not come” to Britain.

“We are pushing for accountability and pushing for prosecutions in the cases of a number of the individuals … and if they travel to the UK we’ll do our best to make sure they are arrested,” said Cadman, who is one of the lawyers pressing for prosecutions for the massacres. “If we had details of people’s travel we would take their files to the war crimes unit at the Met [Metropolitan police]. We would take their files and ask for their arrest.”

Cadman said he had reason to believe the Sisi regime had been concerned by the arrest in London in June of a Rwandan general, Karenzi Karake, on war crimes charges filed in Spain.

The Egyptian embassy in London did not respond to a request for comment on Sisi’s trip or the threat of arrest hanging over members of his regime.

The UK Foreign Office said the Sisi visit was still expected to take place before the end of the year, but an exact date had not been set.

“The UK is working to support Egypt’s security, and progress on political and economic reform. We have a frank and honest relationship, allowing us to raise concerns with our Egyptian partners on a consistent basis, including on human rights issues,” a Foreign Office spokeswoman said.

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“The Egyptian government has taken some steps in the right direction, for example releases of small numbers of activists and international journalists and a new constitution enshrining a wide range of human rights. But we are very clear with Egypt about the economic reform, human rights and democracy needed for long-term stability, and to open the way to deeper partnership with the international community.”

Morsi’s elected government had become increasingly turbulent and authoritarian at the time it was ousted on 3 July 2013 by the Egyptian army under Sisi’s command. The coup triggered clashes between the army and supporters of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood movement, and then increasingly bloody repression. The army killed 51 pro-Morsi protesters outside the Republican Guard club five days after the coup. Then more than 80 more were gunned down on 27 July.

The Rabaa massacre of 14 August 2013 was by far the bloodiest, with death toll estimates ranging from 800 to well over 1,000. Human Rights Watch called it a premeditated crime against humanity comparable to China’s Tiananmen Square massacre.

In the crowd on the morning of 14 August were two British students, Mahmoud Bondok and Salah Abdelshaheed. They were visiting their extended Egyptian families that summer and holidaying in Cairo when they joined the tented sit-in outside the mosque. Neither were supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood but both thought it was important to take a stand when an elected government was ousted by the army.

Bondok had not been able to sleep the night before and was awake at six in the morning when the attack on the sit-in began. “I was walking back from a shop when I saw a kid pointing to something up the road and running away,” he recalled. “There was a big army truck and then a smaller Humvee driving towards the square. But the time I ran back there, there was teargas falling like rain.

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“We were outside a military building and we could see seven to 10 military men on the roof and they all had sniper guns and they started shooting at us. We hid under some steps and we didn’t know what to do. A guy just inches from me was shot in the neck. The bullet took a chunk out of the side of his neck, and he was bleeding profusely.”

Bondok’s friend from London, Salah Abdelshaheed, then aged 19, helped carry the wounded man towards the square where there had been an improvised clinic, but it soon became clear the area had already been taken over by the security forces.

“People were falling all around us,” Abdelshaheed said. “A shopkeeper called us to into his store room where there were already 15 people hiding. It was a tiny room and people were lying on top of each other. One of the injured was lying on me and the blood was dripping down. Outside we could hear gunfire and screams. If you went outside, you would be killed. All we could do is just put pressure on to stop the bleeding of the wounded.”

Now back in London having graduated in civil engineering, Abdelshaheed said he was revolted by the UK’s invitation to Sisi. “Morally, it’s just wrong. You claim to be defenders of democracy, but when it’s in your interests you get into bed with the abusers,” he said. “Strategically, it’s stupid. Islamists are a big segment of society and you are saying to them just forget about democracy, no one cares. I used to argued with those voices in the mosque who argue against democracy, but now what can I say?”