Amnesty Calls For Halt To All Arms Supplies To Egyptian Army

London, Dec 21, IRNA – Global arms suppliers must halt the transfer of small arms, ammunition and other repressive equipment to the Egyptian military and security forces, says Amnesty International. The London-based human rights group made its call while condemning the excessive use of force against protesters after the army again violently dispersed pro-democracy demonstrations protests in Cairo. Earlier this month, it called on the US to end its repeated shipment of arms to Egyptian security forces that have been used to brutally crackdown on protest demonstrations. In the latest condemnation of the repression, Amnesty's deputy Middle East director Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui said it was “clear that either the military police has been given orders to disperse demonstrators at any cost, or the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces does not control the army and security forces.” “It can no longer be considered acceptable to supply the Egyptian army with the types of weaponry, munitions and other equipment that are being used to help carry out the brutal acts we have seen used against protesters,” Sahraoui warned. According to the Egyptian Ministry of Health, at least 11 people have been killed and hundreds injured since Friday in renewed protests against the failure to carry out reforms Amnesty accused the military police of using “excessive force gratuitously, with the aim of punishing demonstrators rather than maintaining law and order,” while adopting special tactics against women. “The army, which has adopted a paternalistic attitude towards women since it has been in charge, has singled out women protesters for humiliation and degrading treatment. The aim of behaviour like this seems to be to deter women from demonstrating,” Sahraoui said. “This is sadly in the same vein as the forced ‘virginity tests’ which the armed forces used against female protesters earlier this year,” he said. Casualties included bullet wounds and crushed body parts resulting from people being deliberately run over by army vehicles./end