Egypt’s prosecutor-general forms body to investigate crimes against revolutionaries

Ahram Online, Thursday 10 Jan 2013

New prosecution body will look into fact-finding committee's report on crimes committed against protesters during and after 25 January Revolution

Talaat Abdullah
Egyptian prosecutor general, Talaat Abdullah (Photo: AP)

Prosecutor-General Talaat Abdullah has ordered the formation of a special prosecution body to investigate crimes committed against revolutionaries by members of the former regime.

The move was made to comply with President Mohamed Morsi’s constitutional declaration of 22 November which said "crimes of terror committed against revolutionaries by anyone who held a political or executive position under the former regime" would be reopened.

Attorney-General Amr Fawzy will head the new ‘protection of the revolution’ body, and twenty prosecutors have been appointed to work with him.

Al-Ahram Arabic website said the team would hold its first meeting on Thursday.

Fawzy is expected to inform the public prosecutor’s office of his team’s progress on a weekly basis.

The body will investigate the report of a fact-finding committee into the deaths and injuries of protesters during and after the revolution which was handed to the public prosecutor on Tuesday.

It will also investigate other incidents that have been reported to the public prosecutor.

The fact-finding committee was formed by President Mohamed Morsi in July to investigate the deaths and injuries of protesters from 25 January 2011 and until he was sworn in on 30 June 2012.

The report was submitted to the president on 2 January before being passed on to the public prosecutor.

Earlier this month several newspapers and media outlets unofficially reported some of the committee’s findings.

Lawyer Mohsen Bahnasi, a member of the committee, told CNN Arabic website on 2 January that former president Hosni Mubarak had watched all the events of the revolution through an encrypted TV channel set up for him by former information minister Anas El-Fiqi.

He also said there was evidence that police and army officers had tortured protesters during the Friday of Rage (28 January 2011) and the Camel Battle (2 February 2011).

The report also includes information about the Port Said massacre on 1 February 2012, that left more than 70 dead and hundreds of injured following clashes after a soccer game between Masry and Ahly, on which a court ruling is expected on 26 January.

Most of the report's content has not yet been officially released.

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