Egypt calls on US to respect right of protest

Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs called on American authorities on Tuesday to uphold international human rights standards and to respect protesters’ rights to freedom of assembly in the city of Ferguson, Missouri.

The comments were made in light of heavy-handed security tactics by Missouri’s authorities following the police killing of Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old African American on August 9.

A statement issued by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, Badr Abdel Atty called on American authorities “to exercise restraint, and respect the rights of peaceful assembly and freedom of expression.”

It was met with skepticism, sarcasm and ridicule on social media networks.

“Laughing not permitted… Egypt calls on America to respect the right of peaceful assembly in light of protests in Ferguson,” Abdel Rahman Salah wrote on Twitter. Another Egyptian Twitter user commented that if the events in Ferguson were happening in Egypt, there would be at least 100 fatalities due to the crackdown.

Following the murder of Brown, Missouri’s governor authorized the deployment of heavily militarized police forces, imposed a state of emergency and curfews, and gave the green light for the use of smoke and tear gas canisters against protesters, as well as rubber bullets. Dozens of arrests have been reported and the National Guard has been deployed to the city in hopes of quelling unrest and racial tensions.

Abdel Atty’s comments affirmed recommendations by the United Nations General Secretary Ban Ki-moon, issued on Monday. In his statement, published on the UN News Center Website, Moon expressed hope that local and federal investigations will “shed full light on the killing and that justice will be done.”  

Last year, Egypt banned all forms of public assembly that are critical of the ruling government.

Presidential Decree 107 (2013), the “Law Regulating Right of Assembly, Processions and Peaceful Protest” strictly limits the freedom to protest and peaceful assembly, while granting police sweeping powers to forcefully disperse protests, even those that are officially authorized.

According to this law, the Egyptian police are empowered to use batons, water cannons, tear gas, rubber bullets and even live shotgun shells against protesters. The law also imposes penalties of imprisonment ranging from two to seven years and/or fines of up to LE300,000 ($US 42,000) for violations.

This year, the anniversary of the armed crackdown on Islamist protest camps at Rabea al-Adaweya and Nahda squares on August 14, 2013 — which left hundreds dead (estimates range from 400 to over 1,200) — saw fatal violence. Egyptian police shot dead at least five civilians protesting against the regime of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to mark the violent dispersals.

On August 11, security authorities at Cairo airport barred representatives of Human Rights Watch from entering the country. Their report regarding the August 14 crackdown was denounced and dismissed by Egypt’s ruling authorities.

A host of mainstream Egyptian TV channels have recently pointed the finger at human rights violations in Ferguson.

Mention has not been made of the scale of fatalities during the August 14 dispersals, the state of emergency and curfew imposed across most of Egypt for three months, or the over 800 Egyptian civilians killed during the January 25 uprising of 2011.

Editors' note: Following an editors' discussion post-publication, some changes have been made to this story.