Committee says Interior Ministry’s Rabea evidence is authentic

A June 30 fact-finding committee said that video evidence presented by the Ministry of Interior (MOI) last week concerning the deadly dispersal of the Rabea sit-in is authentic and could be safely used in the committee’s own investigation, the official EgyNews website reported on Thursday.

The evidence submitted by the MOI included 1211 files related to the dispersal — 830 files of which are images — and 381 video files, according to the committee’s spokesperson Amr Marwan, who added that the evidence was examined by the committee’s experts over the last week in order to ensure it wasn’t fabricated.

The committee considered the cooperation of the MOI to be a breakthrough in investigating the violent events that took place last year. Included in submissions from the ministry were a plan of the dispersal of the sit-ins at Rabea and Nahda squares, along with documents, images and 50 CDs, which allegedly prove they were dispersed according to international standards.

The committee speculated that the MOI was cooperative in order to challenge the narrative from New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), who, in a recent report, deemed the dispersals as a “likely crime against humanity.”

“The Ministry of Interior previously declined to cooperate with the National Council for Human Rights (NCHR) when it was preparing its report on the dispersal process. Presenting this evidence is a very important development in the committee’s work and without it the committee would not have been able to continue working,” Fouad Abdel Moniem Riyad, the head of the committee said last week in a presser, according to EgyNews.

Marwan said Thursday that the MOI’s evidence provides balance to the committee’s investigation, but that they are also open to evidence that challenges it, so that they can provide as full a picture as possible.

He added that the committee might also receive video evidence from Qatari Al Jazeera news channel, which has been criticized for siding with the Muslim Brotherhood’s narrative of the events. Marwan said that if Al Jazeera submits any evidence, it would be treated in the same way as that of the MOI.

The committee repeatedly reiterated its calls for members and leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood to present their view of events, but they have largely been rejected. Imprisoned Brotherhood leaders refused a second request to visit them in jail and listen to their testimonies, according to Marwan.

Brotherhood leaders question the independence of the committee, which was formed according to a decree by former President Adly Mansour to investigate post June-30 violence.