Egypt: Former Military Rulers Face Probe Over Violence Against Protesters

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Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi and former chief-of-staff Lieutenant General Sami Anan, heads of the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) that ruled Egypt for over a year, will be probed over responsibilities in the killings of protesters in clashes with security forces. The decision was taken by Egypt’s civil judiciary, according to the MENA state news agency.

The SCAF, in power after the fall of Hosni Mubarak on 11 February 2011 until the election of Mohammed Morsi on June 30, was accused by human rights groups of violently repressing demonstrations, leading to deaths.

Egypt
Egypt

The probe will mark the first civil judiciary procedure against two top ranking military officers in the country, where armed forces members are always judged by military courts.

Both Tantawi and Anan were given Egypt’s most prestigious award, the Greatest Nile Collar, and retained as presidential advisers.

Cairo last week marked the first anniversary of the death in Maspero of over 25 demonstrators, mostly Christians, in clashes with the military outside the State TV station on 9 October 2011. In a report on the case, rights groups slammed Egyptian authorities for failing to conduct thorough, impartial and independent investigations into the circumstances.

MISNA

MISNA, or the Missionary International Service News Agency, provides daily news ‘from, about and for’ the 'world’s Souths', not just in the geographical sense, since December 1997.

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