Egypt

Political parties demand investigation into “Maspero Massacre” on third anniversary

Members of the Constitution Party and the Bread and Freedom Party demanded an investigation into what is known as the Maspero Massacre that left 27 Coptic Christians dead in 2011. 

Constitution Party spokesperson Khaled Dawoud said on Friday that the successive governments are responsible for achieving justice and for punishing those responsible for that crime, pointing out that having acquitted many officers since the beginning of 25 January Revolution means the state was not serious in reaching the truth.

He also said the victims of the massacre should be considered martyrs. 

The party also said in a statement that the state should adopt a real program for transitional justice through which those involved in violence are brought to account and the families of those victimized by it are compensated as having lost martyrs.

It also said the state did not take action against the media and certain extremist groups that have falsified facts to indicate that the civilians were the ones who initiated the violence against the security forces, whereas all the dead and injured were civilians. 

For its part, the Bread and Freedom Party said in a statement that such crimes will not go unnoticed and condemned the honoring of those responsible for the crime rather than holding them accountable, pointing specifically to Hamdi Badin, the commander of the military police at the time, and Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, the head of the military council at the time.
 
The statement also said that President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi invited Tantawi to official celebrations, which it considered a clear message that the current regime does not intend to achieve retribution, and that the concept of citizenship remains elusive.
 
The statement concluded by calling for justice for all other crimes as well, such as the Mohamed Mahmoud Street and Port Said violent events.
 
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
 

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