Human Rights Watch warned Egyptian police that "the further they go down the road of repression, the louder calls for accountability will grow", in response to the arrest of one of the witnesses used in the group's report on violence in Egypt last summer. The witness, Mohamed Tarek, was among eight people arrested on 29 August in Alexandria accused of protesting without authorization, illegal public assembly, blocking traffic, and membership in the banned Muslim Brotherhood, said Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a Monday statement. Tarek, an academic who taught in the Faculty of Sciences of Alexandria University, alongside four others were handed 15 days in detention "pending interrogations" into the accusations against them. Middle East and North Africa director of Human Rights Watch, Sarah Leah Whitson said: "beating and raiding the home of an academic who described what he saw there [Rabaa Al-Adaweya] would be a new low". HRW said it does not believe the arrest was related to the controversial report on the dispersal of the Rabaa Al-Adaweya sit-in. The group did highlight: "Police significantly damaged his house and confiscated materials commemorating the Rabaa [Al-Adaweya] massacre during the raid on 29 August". The Rabaa Al-Adaweya protest camp, which emerged in support of former President Mohamed Morsi in June last year, was violently dispersed by security forces on 14 August 2013. HRW said at least 817 people were killed during the dispersal, but believes the actual death toll to be at least 1,000. Tarek was dismissed in 2010 from the Faculty of Sciences of Alexandria University for demonstrating against the killing of Khaled Said. He was an activist for years, and has been affiliated with different groups, including the Al-Ghad Party and the National Association for Change formerly led by Mohamed al-Baradei. HRW called for the Egyptian police to release the men or charge them with offenses that do not violate their rights.
