FBIS3-42218
"jptot006__l94029"
JPRS-TOT-94-006-L
Document Type:JPRS
Document Title:Terrorism
FOUO
9 February 1994
NEAR EAST/SOUTH ASIA
EGYPT
Human Rights Group Blames Islamists for Rising Violence
NC0202122294 Cairo AL-AHRAM WEEKLY in English 27 Jan-2 Feb
94 p 2
NC0202122294
Cairo AL-AHRAM WEEKLY
Language: English
Article Type:BFN
[Text] The Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights (EOHR)
said, in a report issued last weekend, that Islamist militant
groups bear the "major part of the responsibility" for all acts
of violence carried out in 1993, while police forces were
becoming less and less involved in acts of "physical
liquidation" directed against these groups.
The report did not absolve the government of responsibility
for the spread of religious extremism and fanaticism, however,
but noted that the state institutions and state-controlled media
were "retreating" in the face of the pressures brought to bear
by the "political Islamic tendency."
EOHR said it "followed with extreme concern the escalating
terrorist activity and the acts of violence carried out by some
armed groups of the political Islamic tendency which
constituted, in 1993, an unprecedented violation of a
fundamental human right, which is the right to live."
Statistics compiled by the EOHR indicate that "the harvest
of
bloody violence" in 1993 included the death of at least 207
people, more than the total for the previous three years during
the course of which 139 people were killed in acts of violence.
The statistics show that these Islamist groups "bear the
major part of responsibility for all acts of violence in the
country, although they had shared this responsibility with the
police forces in 1992," EOHR said. In 1992, Islamist groups
killed 39 people while 38 others were killed by police fire.
In 1993, however, Islamist groups were responsible for the
death of 137 people including 90 policemen, 39 innocent
civilians, 6 Christians and 2 foreign tourists. On the other
hand, 59 Islamist militants were killed either in clashes with
police or in suicide missions. Moreover, 11 citizens were
killed by police fire in the course of clashes between police
and members of militant Islamist groups.
"EOHR, while noting that 59 police victims were killed
deliberately in acts of physical liquidation carried out by
these groups, must also note that police have desisted since
last March from acts of physical liquidation of members of these
groups," the report said.
It said that while 118 people were killed by Islamist
groups,
only eight members of these groups were killed by police forces
when they stormed Al-Rahmah (Mercy) mosque in Aswan last March.
The report also noted that Islamist groups have upgraded
their techniques by using explosive parcels, booby-trapped cars
and time-bombs placed in public squares and densely-populated
areas "in order to cause the largest possible number of human
losses." The year 1993 witnessed 12 major terrorist explosions,
including nine explosions which aimed to kill indiscriminately.
The year also witnessed a sharp escalation in assassination
plots directed at state officials, the report said, citing
abortive attempts on the lives of Prime Minister 'Atif Sidqi,
Information Minister Safwat al-Sharif, and Interior Minister
Hasan al-Alfi, in addition to numerous attacks on police forces.
In the southern governorate of Asyut alone, 57 policemen were
killed. Christians and tourists also continued to be terrorist
targets, the report said.
EOHR affirmed its position that the only way to deal with
this escalation of violence is "the peaceful and courageous
confrontation of all violations of human rights, regardless of
their source and the identity of their intended victim." It
said a police confrontation is not enough, "particularly in view
of the increasing retreat of the state institutions and media
before the pressures brought forth by the political Islamic
tendency, which is bound to encourage religious fanaticism and
sectarian hatred.
"In this connection, EOHR notes that the state institutions
were giving in to the pressures exercised by Al-Azhar and the
political Islamic groups to ban numerous literary, intellectual
and enlightened works under the pretext that they are opposed to
Islam," the report said.
"The organisation also notes that the state is primarily
responsible for the social phenomenon of religious extremism and
fanaticism. Educational institutes, state-owned media and
religious newspapers published by the state or the ruling party
are playing a role which is as grave as that of the newspapers
of the political Islamic tendency in preparing society to accept
and encourage religious fanaticism and sectarian hatred, curtail
freedom of expression and literary and artistic creativity," the
report said.