The US is "deeply concerned" about reports that detained Egyptian political activists were abused and beaten by Egypt's security forces, US Department of State Spokesperson Jen Psaki said on Tuesday. Activists Ahmed Maher, Ahmed Douma and Mohamed Adel claimed on Monday during their trial that they were beaten by the security forces while being transferred from Tora Prison to the courthouse. "If true, there is no justification for such treatment," Psaki declared during the State Department's Tuesday daily press briefing. The defendants, who are charged with organizing unauthorized protests violating a newly-implemented protest law and assaulting police officers, asked the court to document their assault, while their lawyers walked out of the session protesting the mistreatment. The court has ordered the prosecution to investigate the alleged assault. "We look to the Egyptian government to ensure the safety of all those arrested or detained...[ensure they] are afforded due process and fair and transparent trials," Psaki added. The UN Human Rights Council issued a joint statement last Friday with 27 other countries expressing concern on what they described as restrictions of "rights to peaceful assembly, expression and association, and about the disproportionate use of lethal force by security forces against demonstrators which resulted in large numbers of deaths and injuries." The UN joint statement on Egypt mirrors the US's annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for Egypt for 2013, released late February. The report condemned the "removal of an elected civilian government," in reference to 3 July 2013, when Morsi was deposed following mass protests 30 June. It also criticized the treatment of protesters. In response to the US's annual Country Reports, Egypt's foreign ministry Spokesman, Badr Abdel-Ati, denounced what he described as the US "appointing itself a lawyer and an advocate for human rights issues" in the world without a "legitimate base." http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/96488.aspx
