On the 10th of December, the international community will observe Human Rights Day while Egypt continues to witness blatant forms of systematic state-led human rights crimes committed against Egyptians.

Last month alone, 13 people died in detention; 9 of them due to torture, 3 due to medical negligence and 1 committed suicide [1]. 63 cases of extrajudicial killing, 10 accidental deaths, 42 cases of torture, 13 incidents of group torture, 14 cases of police violence outside detention centres and 75 cases of poor or lack of medical care have also been reported [1]. In addition, 40 individuals forcibly disappeared and 5 were kidnapped by police forces from their respective homes on the pretext of getting their targeted relatives to surrender [1].

Violations of human rights and sub-human living conditions are not limited to dissent and political prisoners and their families, for this tragic reality is shared by all Egyptians. One of countless cases is that of Alexandria, Egypt’s second largest city, which was flooded in October for over a week by sewage and rain water due to deterioration of the already insufficient infrastructure that the state neglects upgrading. A consequence of the state’s ignorance to deal with the flooding, that exceeded a depth of 1 meter in some areas, was the death of at least 7 Egyptians [2].

The Egyptian Revolutionary Council is communicating with the High Commissioner for Human Rights, HH Prince Zaid bin Ra’d, the UN’s Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, and with members of the British Parliament in order to bring to their attention the current situation in Egypt and to urge them to take positive steps against the regime that commits these crimes.

[1] Al-Nadeem Centre Report for November 2015
[2] Al-Jazeera’s article on Alexandria’s flash floods