Searching for the Truth About Egypt's 'Deadliest Day'

Following the removal of Mohamed Morsi from the Egyptian presidency last summer, his supporters flooded Cairo’s Rabaa al Adawiya Square and Nahda Square in Giza for several weeks before being forcibly dispersed by the authorities on August 14. This marked the beginning of a massive military-led crackdown on Islamists and supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood that continues today.

Human rights groups say that upwards of a thousand people died in what they call the deadliest day in Egypt’s modern history. But the truth of what happened — and a complete official investigation into who is responsible — remains inconclusive and politically polarizing.

On March 5, the state-run National Council for Human Rights rushed out preliminary results of the first official investigation into the biggest dispersal at Rabaa. The report asserts that the demonstrators initiated the aggression and blames "armed groups" among the protesters as well as police for the massive death toll.

Independent human rights groups immediately questioned the document’s methodology and findings.

“This is not a serious, independent investigation,” Joe Stork, deputy director of the Middle East and North Africa division at Human Rights Watch (HRW), told VICE News. Stork suggested that the report was completed in a rush to burnish Egypt’s reputation at the time of the UN Human Rights Council meetings taking place in Geneva between March 3 and 28.

In its investigation, the Egyptian council was not shown the Interior Ministry's plan for the dispersal of the protesters. Nor did it ask for it, according to independent website Mada Masr.

Ministry spokesman Hani Abdel Latif defended the findings nevertheless. "The report was neutral as it tackled several important issues, including the fact that protesters in the sit-in were armed," he told the news service Anadolu Agency. “It also showed that Morsi's supporters had detained, tortured, and killed some innocent citizens.”

Security forces moved to clear a sit-in by supporters of former president Mohamed Morsi in Rabaa Square, Cairo, early on August 14. This video shows fires in an encampment and corresponds with live footage aired by Egyptian television. Video via Mosa'ab Elshamy.

The Egyptian council's report accused the security forces of a “disproportionate use of force” and “failing to exercise self-restraint.” But rather than deliver answers, it raised many more questions.

The document said 632 people were killed during the incident, while Egypt’s Forensics Authority stated that 627 people were killed at Rabaa, estimating the nationwide death toll for the day at 976.Independent rights groups suggest the actual number is much higher.

Wiki Thawra, an independent website that has tracked deaths since the January 11 revolution, estimated that at least 969 people were killed in Rabaa Square alone. The Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights also said that more than 900 protesters died at the Rabaa dispersal.

Egypt’s Interior Ministry maintains that they told protesters to leave the sit-ins through safe exits, but witnesses insisted that they were either arrested or attacked if they tried to do so.

Mohammad Shaaban, one of the protestors in Rabaa that day, told VICE News he tried to flee as a policeman chased and fired at him.

“This is what the government says and it is all wrong,” Shaaban said of the preliminary report. “I didn't read one true word there.” Shaaban was arrested overnight and held with other protesters.

Video footage shows that Egyptian police resorted quickly to armed force.

Footage from what has been described as the deadliest day in Egypt's modern history.

“Security forces failed to plan the operation to minimize the risk to life, including by ensuring safe exits and giving public orders not to kill except in a targeted manner when absolutely necessary,” HRW said in August. HRW is currently conducting its own investigation of the raid.

“They did not bring up the role of the armed forces,” an activist named Ahmed Motawia said of the new report. "It was clear they participated.” An Egyptian military spokesperson declined to comment for this story.

More than six months after the Rabaa massacre, the four-fingered salute — a symbol to commemorate the victims — remains controversial and even dangerous to display in Egypt. A female doctor was recently accused of being a Muslim Brotherhood supporter and sentenced to two years in prison in February for wearing a Rabaa pin featuring the four-finger sign.

Motawia said that an independent investigation is not in the current government’s interest. “They would be convicted on paper,” he said.

Photo via Moud Barthez