A Union of Good website is reporting that a group of thirty non-governmental organizations have called on UN to set up a fact-finding mission into recent events in Egypt. According to the report:
July 29, 2013 Thirty international non-governmental organizations have called on UN to set up a fact-finding mission into the events unfolding in Egypt since July 3, 2013 most recently was the killing and injuring of hundreds during an army attack on pro-Morsi sit-in on Saturday.
In a letter addressed to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, the thirty human rights organizations called for opening a fair and independent investigation into the mass killing and human rights violations committed by the Egyptian Armed Forces since the military coup on July 3rd that ousted Egypt’s first freely elected president Mohammed Morsi.
The organizations pointed out that the reports, issued by their field working groups throughout Egypt, have documented ‘serious escalation in human rights violations such as extrajudicial killings; arbitrary arrests; excessive use of force; and deprivation of freedoms of association, speech and expression, and targeting those who oppose the military’s ouster of President Morsi.
The letter also noted that the Egyptian authorities have not only perpetrated such acts, but also turned a blind eye to their practice by others.
For her part, Sandra Owen, in charge of the Middle East file in the Euro-Mid Observer for Human Rights, has called on Commissioner Pillay to pressure the Egyptian authorities administering the country and the Egyptian Armed Forces to bear their obligations under International Human Rights Law, primarily the protection of peaceful demonstrators and their right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.
Owen also stressed the need to prevent further polarization and incitement in the streets through the media and to release all political detainees, including President Mohamed Morsi and his advisors.
She called on UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to intervene immediately to pressure the Egyptian authorities administering the country and the Egyptian Armed Forces to refrain from using excessive lethal force to disperse demonstrators.
The thirty international human rights organizations include the Euromid Observer for Human Rights (Switzerland), Rights for All (Geneva), Friends of Humanity International (Austria), Justice Center (Sweden), Liberté and Equité (Tunisia), March For Justice (United States of America), Sawasya Center for Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination (Egypt), the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief (IHH) (Turkey), Gulf Network for Rights and Freedom (GNRF) (Switzerland), European Muslim Research Centre (EMRC) (United Kingdom).
The following three organizations are known to be strongly tied to the Global Muslim Brotherhood:
- Rights for All (Droit pour Tous) is a Swiss-based NGO that describes itself as a human rights organization but actually functions as a Palestinian advocacy group and is one of the members of the European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza (ECESG), one of the major groups behind the June 2010 Gaza Flotilla that was involved in a violent altercation with Israeli naval forces. The founding member and former President of Rights For All is Anouar Gharbi (aka Anwar al-Gharbi) now serving as Foreign Affairs Adviser of the President of Tunisia and was also a founding member of the ECESG, close to the Global Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, and Mr. Gharbi was one of the coordinators for the 2nd Gaza Flotilla. Mr Gharbi has also been an officer of the Association de Secours Palestinien (ASP) in Switzerland, the Swiss member of the Union of Good (UOG), a coalition of charities headed by Global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi which helps to raise funds for Hamas.
- The Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief (IHH) is A Turkish charity that figured prominently in the 2010 Gaza flotilla and is part of a network of Turkish Ngos described as a Turkish Muslim Brotherhood network (disclosure: report authored by GMBDW editor).
- Our predecessor publication reported that the European Muslim Research Centre (EMRC) was launched with funds provided by the UK Muslim Brotherhood and that the organization’s advisory board includes members representing the Muslim Council of Britain, a part of the U.K. Muslim Brotherhood, a leading U.K. Muslim Brotherhood organization, and a founder of Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Also on the EMRC board is John Esposito, who has at least a dozen past or present affiliations with global Muslim Brotherhood/Hamas organizations.