Thirteen years after Egypt's Rabaa massacre, activists launch a fresh push for answers and accountability

A prominent Egyptian rights group has launched a campaign demanding answers and accountability coinciding with the 13th anniversary of the Rabaa massacre in Cairo, where around 1,000 peaceful protesters were brutally killed by security forces during a sit-in.

The Shehab Centre for Human Rights said in a statement that despite the passage of over a decade, the massacre remains one of the bloodiest events in modern Egyptian history.

The organisation noted that the massacre has “opened a long chapter of pain, violations and impunity”, with victims’ families still waiting for the truth and for justice, adding that many families are still facing the consequences of what happened.

The Rabaa massacre took place in Cairo on the morning of 14 August 2014, when security forces violently dispersed a peaceful sit-in at the Rab’a al’Adawiya square, where many had gathered to demand Egypt’s first democratically elected President, Mohammed Morsi, be reinstated.

The large-scale protest had taken place after then-defence minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi led a military coup weeks earlier to remove Morsi from power.

The military operation saw security forces use firearms and tear gas while mounted on horses, and deploy military equipment and bulldozers to get rid of tents that protesters had brought to camp out in.

Hundreds of people were imprisoned and convicted in mass trials; others have fled into exile, while hundreds were killed after being shot at by snipers, trampled on, and beaten.

Rights groups say that protesters were not given enough time and effective warning to leave before the violence, adding that the operation lasted around 12 hours.

No proper investigation

Egyptian authorities have failed to properly probe the events surrounding the protests and the killings, with findings yet to be published.

A decade after the massacre, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights published a report titled ‘Obscuring the Truth’, with one a document from the fact-finding committee stating it “does not doubt that it was possible to end the Rabaa sit-in without all this bloodshed".

The full report from the fact-finding committee has still not been fully published, while the head of the group, Fouad Riad, died in 2020.

The Shehab Centre for Human Rights said on Thursday that it demands a serious and independent investigation into the killing of the protesters, with those responsible for the ordering the crackdown to be held responsible. It also demanded that those who were involved in covering up the violations be held accountable in accordance with international law.

In recent years, several rights groups have attempted to shed light on the repercussions and events of the Rabaa massacre, and are working to gather testimonies from survivors.