Egypt’s human rights state in appalling decay: AI

A UK-based rights group has highlighted persisting human rights violations across Egypt, warning of catastrophic decline in basic rights in the Arab country since the military-led coup against the nation’s first freely elected president Mohamed Morsi.
Amnesty International (AI) declared in a Thursday statement that Egypt has been “failing at every level in terms of human rights” in the post-Morsi era.
Morsi was toppled in July 2013 in a military coup led by the then army chief Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who then retired to run for and win the country’s presidency under new rules established by the military-installed interim government.
“The rights group further urged the new government of Sisi to open independent and impartial investigations into all alleged crimes.”
The statement cited a surge in arrests, detentions and “harrowing incidents of torture and deaths in police custody.”
It noted that thousands of Morsi’s supporters have been detained or have faced trial on a variety of charges.
The group said the evidence it has gathered shows that torture is routine in police stations and unofficial places of detention, and specifically targets supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood movement.
“Egypt’s notorious state security forces are back and operating at full capacity, employing the same methods of torture and other ill-treatment used during the darkest hours of the (former Egyptian dictator Hosni) Mubarak era,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Middle East and North Africa deputy director at Amnesty International.

Egypt has been the scene of anti-government protests with continuous clashes between security forces and Morsi’s supporters since his ouster.
Following the ouster, Sisi announced his candidacy for the nation’s presidency and was sworn in as president after winning an election in which less that 50 percent of eligible voters participated.
Sisi is accused of leading the suppression of the Muslim Brotherhood supporters.
Rights groups say the army’s crackdown on the supporters of Morsi has left over 1,400 people dead and 22,000 arrested.