Human rights organisations have urged Egypt's newly elected president and former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to address the country’s ‘dismal’ human rights record.
“Egyptian security forces have used excessive force on numerous occasions, leading to the worst incident of mass unlawful killings in Egypt’s recent history," a joint report by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said Tuesday.
The report highlights a number of issues that al-Sisi is being asked to tackle, including mass protester killings, arbitrary arrests, torture and a "pervasive impunity for rights abuses."
“Instead of addressing the urgent need for reform, Egyptian authorities have spent the last year engaging in repression on a scale unprecedented in Egypt’s modern history,” the report quoted Hassiba Hadj-Sahraoui, deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International, as saying.
“Now that President al-Sisi has formally taken the reins of power, he should put an end to these rampant abuses,” Hadj-Sahraoui said.
Human Rights Watch's deputy Middle East and North Africa director Joe Stork called on Egypt's allies to impress upon al-Sisi that the world would not accept "foot-dragging or purely cosmetic changes."
The rights groups gave a number of recommendations including allowing the Muslim Brotherhood and other banned organisations to appeal against their designation as terrorist groups. They also asked for the “immediate” and “unconditional” release of journalists that have been accused of being members of the Brotherhood.
Al-Sisi – who led the army's ouster last summer of elected President Mohamed Morsi – won last month's presidential polls by a landslide, securing almost 97 percent of vote, according to Egypt's electoral commission.
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