In the eighteen days from January 25 until February 11, 846 people died and 6,467 were injured in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez, including more than 1,000 people suffering permanent loss of sight. Doctors said demonstrators were shot dead in the upper part of their bodies. The numbers were published in a 30-page report titled, “The Price of Hope: Human Rights Abuses During the Egyptian Revolution” by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH). The report, issued May 17, comes after a fact-finding mission conducted in Egypt in March 2011 which “documented the grave human rights violations perpetrated by the security forces against the protesters during the popular uprising.” The report focused on incidents in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez, the cities that witnessed the most violence. The mission met with demonstrators, injured people, relatives of victims, members of youth groups, lawyers, journalists, doctors, and human rights, political and religious activists. The FIDH mission also met with Egypt's General Prosecutor, Abdel Maguid Mahmoud, and the Attorney General, who “showed genuine willingness to cooperate with human rights organizations regarding the accurate documentation of abuses.” “FIDH focused its investigation on two types of crimes broadly committed by the security forces during the Egyptian uprising: the killing, and attempted killing of peaceful demonstrators; and the arbitrary arrest and torture of demonstrators,” the organization said in its press release. “We hope the fact-finding mission will contribute to end the impunity of high ranking officials and officers that have been involved in the perpetration of serious human rights abuses under the Mubarak regime,” said Souhayr Belhassen, FIDH President. “The major challenges for the democratic transition stand in the setting up of a democratic system with enough safeguards to prevent the repetition of serious human rights violations,” said FIDH in its conclusion. “A system based on the rule of law and the fight against impunity should be the priority. In order to do so, Egypt should take the opportunity to ratify and implement the human rights Conventions that were left outside of its legislative system and implement carefully recommendations taken by human right bodies in their reports on Egypt. “It should also ensure that all those, including at the highest level of the State, responsible for homicides and torture during the revolution but also during the former regime are prosecuted and sentenced.” Today, May 21, 2011, several of those top ranking officials will have their second court hearing for criminal charges before the criminal court in Cairo.
