NEW YORK: Following a year-long investigation into Egyptian crisis, the Human Rights Watch charged on Tuesday that the systematic and widespread killing of at least 1,150 demonstrators by Egyptian security forces in July and August 2013 probably amounted to crimes against humanity.

In the August 14 dispersal of the Rab’a al-Adawiya sit-in alone, security forces, following a plan that envisioned several thousand deaths, killed a minimum of 817 people and more likely at least 1,000.

The 188-page report, “All According to Plan: The Rab’a Massacre and Mass Killings of Protesters in Egypt”, documents the way the Egyptian police and army methodically opened fire with live ammunition on crowds of demonstrators opposed to the military’s July 3 ouster of Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first elected civilian president, at six demonstrations between July 5 and August 17, 2013.

While there is also evidence that some protesters used firearms during several of these demonstrations, the Human Rights Watch was able to confirm their use in only a few instances, which do not justify the grossly disproportionate and premeditated lethal attacks on overwhelmingly peaceful protesters.

“In Rab’a Square, Egyptian security forces carried out one of the world’s largest killings of demonstrators in a single day in recent history,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of the Human Rights Watch.

“This wasn’t merely a case of excessive force or poor training. It was a violent crackdown planned at the highest levels of the Egyptian government. Many of the same officials are still in power in Egypt, and have a lot to answer for.”

The watchdog group said it interviewed more than 200 witnesses, including protesters, doctors, local residents and independent journalists, visited each of the protest sites during or immediately after the attacks began, and reviewed physical evidence, hours of video footage, and statements by public officials.

The Human Rights Watch wrote to relevant Egyptian ministries soliciting the government’s perspective on these events, but received no responses.

Published in Dawn, Aug 13th, 2014