Turkish human rights group protests coup near Egyptian embassy
The July 3 coup is an affront to freedoms, say activists, who also demonstrated against the recent elections in Bangladesh regarded flawed by the international community
ANKARA
Turkish human rights and relief group IHH on Friday staged a demonstration in front of Egypt's embassy in Turkey to protest the trial of deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi and the parliamentary elections in Bangladesh held on December 5, 2014.
Serkan Codal of IHH who organized the demonstration said the trial of the Egypt's deposed president was not fair, adding that arbitrary detentions against members of Muslim Brotherhood from which Morsi hails were against the law.
Codal said the Egypt's interim government dragged the country into a vortex of violence despite the fact that the Egyptian people held protests everywhere in the country against the military coup.
Egyptian activist Moustafa Al-Badri, joining the rally, said, "We, the Egyptian people, achieved our freedom and got the return of out votes (after Morsi’s election into presidency), but then faced a surprising coup of the military junta with heavy arms and tanks against Egypt's democracy on July 3, 2013."
The coup refutes people's freedom of expression and thought, Badri said, arguing that Egyptians would continue to uphold their honor and freedom ‘till the very end.’
The group of activists chanted slogans against the Egyptian General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi - head of the coup - during the protest.
‘Bleeding wound’
The group also demonstrated against the recent general elections in Bangladesh, which was widely regarded as being farcical in the international arena.
Codal called Bangladesh 'another bleeding wound' of the Islamic world.
He criticized what he saw as lack of transparency in Sunday’s general elections - held a month after the execution of Jamat-e-Islami party senior Abdul Qadir Mollah for alleged war crimes.
The elections, marred by massive protests and violence, turned into a walkover for ruling Bangladesh Awami League (BAL) amid a broad opposition boycott.
Major world powers including the US, the EU, and Russia refused to send observers to the polls, expressing skepticism in the credibility of the electoral process.
englishnews@aa.com.tr
