Nearly 1,000 Killed in Cairo Since mid-August Crackdown

Thousands Remain Detained as Junta Moves Against Protesters

The Egyptian military junta’s crackdowns continue apace despite having fallen mostly out of the headlines, and a new report from the government’s forsenic authority put the death toll at 989 in the capital city of Cairo alone since mid-August.

A large number of those casualties come from the massacre of protesters in mid-August, of course, but the overall figure shows that death tolls have continued to rise, even if they haven’t always hit big enough single-day totals to make headlines.

The officials also noted that thousands of protesters remain unaccounted for after having been detained by the junta. The junta has declared the former ruling party illegal, and has been arresting those involved in the protests for “incitement,” blaming them for the death tolls.

The Obama Administration, for its part, has been mostly indifferent about the major death tolls, making some minor temporary cuts to military aid but generally praising the military for seizing power and setting the nation on a path of “transformation.”

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.