Starting on 25 January 2011, Egypt erupted in mass peaceful protests calling for democratic change and the immediate resignation of the President Hosni Mubarak. After 18 days of protests, he resigned and turned over all power to the military on 11 February 2011. During the protests, we can confirm that 303 individuals were killed, though we estimate that the total death toll is closer to 500. Alkarama has submitted this list of names with as much detail as we have been able to collect to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Summary Executions calling on him to ensure the Egyptian authorities investigate these deaths, prosecute those responsible and prevent such excesses to occur again.

Between 25 and 28 January, confrontations took place between hundreds of thousands of Egyptians and the Egyptian police and State Security forces. These confrontations resulted in the deaths of at least 255 people and the deployment of the Military throughout most large Egyptian cities.

From 1 to 3 February, men in civilian clothing, many of whom were later proven to be members of the security forces, attacked the peaceful demonstrations leading to at least 48 deaths. We have established that, of these 303 cases, the Egyptian authorities were either directly responsible for the attacks or did not take effective measures to prevent the acts of violence against civilians.

In 2006, the Special Rapporteur set out the basis and content of international law on the use of lethal force by police (A/61/311), stating that the rules governing the use of force were built on the principles that force is strictly limited to circumstances where it is required to protect life. The police may use the lethal fore when it is clear that an individual is about to kill someone (proportionality) and there is no other available means of detaining the suspect (necessity).

In Egypt, the police and security forces have a long and notorious record of cruelty towards its citizens. During the protests, the use of force was not keeping with the criteria of absolute necessity and proportionality.

These killings constitute a violation of the right to life embodied in the article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political rights (ICCPR). In violating these conventions, Egypt is clearly in breach of its most fundamental human rights obligations.