Egypt blocks entry for HRW

Human Rights Watch confirmed on Monday that two of its executive directors, Kenneth Roth and Sarah Leah Whitson, had been ordered to return to the United States. The members of the New York-based group were held overnight in Cairo Airport and were expected to be sent back to the United States on Monday.

There was no immediate comment available from the Egyptian government regarding the incident.

Roth, Whitson and the writer of the report, Human Rights Fellow Omar Shakir, had travelled to Cairo for the Tuesday release of a new report on a violent police crackdown on protesters nearly one year ago.

On August 14, 2013, security forces swept through the Rabaa al-Adawiya protest camp, where supporters of jailed President Mohammed Morsi had been staging a sit-in for over a month. The attempt to clear the demonstration resulted in roughly 700 civilian deaths over the course of 12 hours, according to Egyptian officials. Eight police officers were also killed. Rights activists believe the death toll was much higher.

In his Twitter feed on Monday, Shakir, the author of the report, appeared undeterred by the forced departure.

Egypt's government under President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has been criticized by rights groups for its violent crackdowns and mass detainments of people aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood, its main opponent. The current Egyptian leader had led the coup against Egypt's first democratically-elected leader, Mohammed Morsi, in the summer of 2013 and has since supported policies aimed at eradicating the Brotherhood, which had backed Morsi.

The Islamist group was declared a terrorist group in December. On Saturday, Egypt's highest administrative court dissolved its political party, known as the Freedom and Justice Party.

kms/tj (AFP, Reuters, dpa)