The stories you want. The opinions that matter.
No, thanks
Tag: demonstrators
Egypt Authorities Likely Committed Crimes Against Humanity, Group Says

Egypt Authorities Likely Committed Crimes Against Humanity, Group Says

By Laura King, Los Angeles Times

A leading international human rights group asserted Tuesday that Egyptian authorities likely committed crimes against humanity in the deaths of hundreds of demonstrators last August, most of them supporters of deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood.

Egypt sharply disputed the findings of New York-based Human Rights Watch and barred senior representatives of the organization from entering the country to publicly present their report, which was based on a yearlong investigation.

The group urged that an international commission of inquiry be convened to investigate the “widespread and systematic” killings in Cairo’s Rabaa Al-Adawiya Square and several other locales. At least 817 people and possibly more than 1,000 were killed by security forces at Rabaa alone, Human Rights Watch said.

The document calls for an independent probe of the role of President Abdel Fattah Sisi, the then-military chief, and other senior military and security officials. It alleges that the security forces were essentially given carte blanche to use deadly force against protesters, and that the official plan for dealing with Morsi backers envisioned the likely deaths of several thousand demonstrators.

The violence erupted six weeks after the military removed Morsi from office after mass demonstrations demanding an end to his rule. Morsi, who is now on trial for a variety of capital offenses, was Egypt’s first freely elected president.

The Egyptian government conducted its own investigation of the deaths in mid-August of last year, when pro-Morsi sit-in camps were dispersed by police and soldiers. A government-backed human rights panel put the death toll at less than 700, and found — without implicating particular officials — that both sides had used excessive force.

Responding to Tuesday’s Human Rights Watch report, Egypt’s official State Information Service said the findings were characterized by “negativity and bias” and “ignored terrorist acts carried out by the Muslim Brotherhood and their supporters.”

In the year since the killings, Egyptian authorities have carried out a wide-ranging crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, the region’s oldest and largest Islamist movement, and curtailed a range of basic rights, including freedom of speech and assembly. The judiciary system has also rendered a series of harsh mass verdicts against alleged Brotherhood backers.

Many government opponents, both Islamist and secular, have been imprisoned under a tough anti-protest law. Academics, activists, filmmakers, and journalists have faced prosecution for activities allegedly endangering national security, including three journalists from the Qatar-based broadcaster Al Jazeera English, who were sentenced earlier this summer to seven-year prison terms on terrorism-related charges.

AFP Photo

Interested in world news? Sign up for our daily email newsletter!

Environmentalists Protest Against Tar Sands Pipeline

The president might be on vacation, but that hasn’t stopped environmental activists from protesting outside the White House. The crowd has been assembled since Aug. 20 in an attempt to raise awareness about the Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry oil from Canadian tar sands to the Gulf of Mexico. The demonstrators are fighting against the pipeline because oil from tar sands emits more carbon than normal oil, thereby contributing that much more to climate change.

The pipeline, proposed by the Canadian energy company TransCanada, would cost $7 billion and would stretch 1,700 miles south from the Alberta tar sands to Texas refineries. It would carry as much as 900,000 barrels of oil a day, doubling U.S. imports of Canadian crude. The proposed pipeline, scheduled for completion in 2013, would supplement the existing Keystone pipeline — which has already leaked several times in its one year of use.

The oil from the tar sands is particularly controversial because it has a carbon output 20 percent higher than conventional oil supplies. The State Department is finalizing an environmental impact statement on the proposal, which is expected this month, and they will issue a decision by the end of the year.

For the construction of the pipeline to begin, Obama would have to sign a certificate of national interest since it crosses the border. Congress is not involved in this measure, giving environmentalists more hope that they can effect change without dealing with climate change-skeptical politicians.

In an Aug. 16 Washington Post op-ed, organizer Bill McKibben wrote that more than a thousand people had signed up to be arrested during the two weeks of protests. He outlined the protesters’ goals, writing,

We have, not surprisingly, concerns about potential spills and environmental degradation from construction of the pipeline. But those tar sands are also the second-largest pool of carbon in the atmosphere, behind only the oil fields of Saudi Arabia.…For now, the Keystone pipeline is the best proxy we have for real presidential commitment to the global warming fight.

McKibben is one of more than 220 protesters who have been arrested for sitting in front of the White House. Demonstrators plan to come in waves during the two-week protest, with another 1,800 people promising to join. The biggest day of action is planned for Saturday.

The fossil fuel industry has fought back and is trying to convince the president to approve the pipeline. Given Alberta’s remote location, the Keystone XL pipeline is essentially the only viable route — meaning that if the president doesn’t approve, the oil will most likely stay in the ground.

The protesters will be waiting for the president upon his return from Martha’s Vineyard, urging Obama to take a stand for the environment. For now, the future of the Keystone XL pipeline is uncertain.