UN Human Rights Calls for Credible Probe Into Egypt Killings

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay called on Thursday for an independent investigation into the killing of hundreds of Egyptians when security forces crushed Islamist protest camps. Pillay, a former UN war crimes judge, said that the heavy toll in Wednesday’s clashes in Cairo pointed to “an excessive, even extreme use of force against demonstrators” and she urged security forces to act with utmost restraint.

“There must be an independent, impartial, effective and credible investigation of the conduct of the security forces. Anyone found guilty of wrongdoing should be held to account,” she said in a statement issued in Geneva.