WASHINGTON, D.C.
The U.S. has expressed renewed concerns over last year’s killing of protesters in Egypt after a human rights report claimed that the killings likely constituted crimes against humanity.
U.S. State Department Deputy Spokeswoman Marie Harf said Tuesday it was troubling that no Egyptian security forces have yet been held accountable for the police crackdown on two squares in August 2013, which killed hundreds of people and injured thousands.
The Human Rights Watch said in a report on Tuesday that the killings were "part of a policy to use lethal force against largely unarmed protesters on political grounds."
The report said the incident was "one of the world's largest killings of demonstrators in a single day in recent history," calling for a U.N. investigation into the role of Egyptian President Abdel Fettah el-Sisi and his security chiefs.
"The report's findings are very disturbing," Harf said. "In order for Egypt to achieve long-term stability, security, economic prosperity, it must investigate these events in a fully transparent and credible manner, one that's grounded in impartial application of the rule of law and to hold people accountable."
The U.S. held up a weapons systems delivery to Egypt upon the killings, although Washington avoided calling General el-Sisi's deposing President Mohamed Morsi on July 3, 2013 a military coup.
According to the Egyptian Health Ministry, 638 people were killed - 595 civilians and 43 police officers – and nearly 4,000 injured on August 14 when the Egyptian army violently cleared two squares, Rabaa al-Adawiya and Nahda.
The Muslim Brotherhood and the National Coalition for Supporting Legitimacy claim that the death toll in Rabaa al-Adawiya alone was over 2,500.
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