In Leaked Recording, Egyptian Minister Called For Use Of Automatic Weapons On Protesters

Posted by EM_Equity ⋅ February 25, 2015 ⋅ Leave a comment

Filed Under Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Coup, Egypt, EM, Emerging Markets, FM, Frontier Markets, Government, Human Rights, Junta, military, Mohamed Ibrahim, Mohamed Morsi, Political Unrest, Politics, Protests, social unrest, weapons

Egyptian Interior Minister, Mohamed Ibrahim.

A leaked audio recording that was obtained by al-Jazeera and broadcasted on Tuesday is said to reveal Egyptian Interior Minister, Mohamed Ibrahim, calling for the use of automatic weapons against protesters.

“Use all that is permitted under the law. I think you all understand …use it without hesitation, any slight hesitation,” the reported voice of Ibrahim says, “from water to the machine gun.”

“Do not wait for 100 to swell into 1,000 or 2,000 or 3,000, then we are all helpless before them.”

Ibrahim is heard discussing a strategy for dealing with the protesters, including ways to shoot protesters without turning them into “martyrs”, according to al-Jazeera.

In the recording, Interior Ministry officials are also heard discussing the government’s decision to reinstate a security officer who sought to blind demonstrators by targeting their eyes with birdshot-style shotgun ammunition, according to the report.

Al-Jazeera says that the recording was from a meeting of Egypt’s Central Security Force (CSF) ahead of a major protest on November 28, 2014.