Rights groups leave sit-in shortly after visit

A human rights delegation visited the Rabea al-Adaweya sit-in on Thursday but left shortly after some verbal clashes erupted between the delegation's members and people in the sit-in, an eyewitness said.

According to Mohamed Abo-Elgheit, a journalist accompanying the delegation, the group consisted of 18 members from six organizations including the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights, the Nadeem Center for the Rehabilitation of the Victims of Torture, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, the Hisham Mubarak Law Center, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights and the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression.

According to Abo-Elgheit, the delegation was not on a mission to inspect whether the sit-in has arms or not because it is not prepared or qualified to do that. "This was a delegation of rights monitoring aiming to produce a report about our observations on the sit-in, its surface area, the number of women and children there which renders the process of dispersing it very risky."  The delegation was hoping to start with this visit a constant presence to document human rights violations from any side within the sit-in.

Abo-Elgheit explained that they were easily let in the sit-in after the stage announced their presence, but after they started going around, some members of the sit-in started verbally attacking the delegation. Inside the field hospital, Brotherhood supporters Ahmad al-Mogheer and Abdel Rahman Ezz clashed with Mohamed Adel, who was in the delegation as a member of the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights. When Adel said he was assaulted, people from the sit-in denied it and accused the delegation of coming to create problems. More verbal scuffles erupted outside the hospital.

The delegation decided to leave to avoid further scuffles, although Muslim Brotherhood members apologized.

In a separate incident, Al-Masry Al-Youm photojournalist Tarek Wajeh said that he was verbally and physically assaulted by Mogheer at the media center of Rabea al-Adaweya when he was asked to erase all photos he took of the security arrangements taken by the sit-in's member in case it is forcibly dispersed.

Human Rights Watch called on Egypt on Friday to halt any plans to disperse the Muslim Brotherhood sit-ins which have been set for over a month to call for the reinstatement of deposed President Mohamed Morsi, ousted by the military on July 3.

The statement came following a Cabinet order for the Ministry of Interior on July 31 to take all necessary measures to "to confront violence and terrorism" in the sit-ins. In their statement, the Ministry of Interior vowed to only use force as final resort and called on members of the sit-ins to leave.

Human Rights Watch said that police have a track record of using excessive force in dealing with protests and that in the last month alone, 137 were killed in attempts to disperse demonstrations. The organization said that during its visit to both the Rabea al-Adaweya and Nahda sit-ins, it observed the presence of women and children, which casts risks on dispersing the square by using force. Human Rights Watch also recognized reports of presence of arms within the sit-ins and of assaults on individuals, but said the Egyptian government should conduct investigations to identify the perpetrators and not disperse the whole sit-ins using force for the acts of individuals.

From their side, the Muslim Brotherhood vowed not to leave any of the sit-ins. Marches are organized Friday morning to head to both Rabea al-Adaweya and Nahda sit-ins, while on Thursday night the numbers at the former sit-in increased.