UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called for a “full investigation” into the deaths of dozens of supporters of ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi while in police custody.
The UN chief was “deeply disturbed by the reported deaths” of the prisoners, AFP quoted Banâ„¢s spokesman Martin Nesirky as saying on Monday.
On Sunday, Egyptâ„¢s Interior Ministry said that 37 Muslim Brotherhood members died during an attempted prison breakout near the capital Cairo, saying the prisoners had been suffocated by teargas.
“He calls for a full investigation to ascertain the facts surrounding this incident,” Nesirky said.
Authorities said the detainees died after police used teargas to stop a mass escape while a group of more than 600 suspects were being transported to the Abu Zabal prison on the outskirts of Cairo.
The Brotherhood, battling to reverse the overthrow of Morsi, held the authorities responsible and accused them of committing “murder.”
“The murders show the violations and abuses that political detainees who oppose the July 3 coup get subjected to,” the group said.
Egyptian security forces have arrested hundreds of Morsi’s Brotherhood supports in recent days as the military-backed government has tried to end weeks of protests and to stamp their authority on the deeply polarized North African nation.
On August 14, the interim government launched a brutal crackdown on thousands of peaceful pro-Morsi protesters in Cairo. Almost 900 people, including nearly 100 soldiers and police, have died in the country since then.
Egypt has been experiencing unrelenting violence since July 3, when the army toppled Morsi, the first democratically elected Egyptian head of state, and suspended the constitution and dissolved the parliament. The army also appointed the head of the Supreme Constitutional Court, Adly Mahmoud Mansour, as the new interim president.
The government in Egypt has been facing international condemnation over the killing of protesters. Amnesty International has called for a thorough and unbiased investigation into the August 14 massacre.
MN/AS
Republished from: Press TV