valuable materials were placed in the court safe and other belongings were
handed over to the Sudanese Embassy in Cairo to return to their owners.
129.
In response to the prayer of the Complainants that the Respondent State
conduct a thorough and impartial investigation to ensure the accountability of
the alleged perpetrators, the Respondent State alleges that the allegation that
Egypt had failed to conduct a proper and impartial investigation is unsound.
The Respondent State submits that Egypt complied with all the international
standards of breaking up assemblies and that Egyptian law abides by the same
standards.
130.
The State submits that following the demand from civil society organizations
for the Public Prosecutor to investigate the incidents, the latter, which is an
integral part of the Judiciary and whose members enjoy independence and
judicial immunity, conducted all the legal investigations and measures
required, gathered evidence and ascertained the conclusions of the forensic
reports, which stated that the corpses of the dead persons had no trace of gas,
firearm or rubber bullets. The Respondent State submits that the deaths were
attributed to stampede and pandemonium and that as a result the Public
Prosecutor, in compliance with the well-established national and international
legal principles and rules of justice and standards of criminal justice,
temporarily placed the investigation on hold, since the investigations had not
been conducted into the culprits. The Respondent State also alleges that the
Egyptian authorities gave clearance to Sudanese forensic scientists and the
Sudanese Criminal Investigation Department to inspect the corpses of the
victims, the site of the sit-in protest and to examine the relevant reports. The
Respondent State alleges that subsequently, it was concluded that the
“allegation was unfounded and that it should be ignored and rejected.”
131.
In response to the prayer by the Complainants to review the national laws of
the State relating to use of force, crowd control and demonstrations, the
Respondent State stresses that rights in the African Charter, including freedom
of assembly in Article 11 must be exercised “with due regard to the rights of
others, collective security, morality and common interest”, as provided for in
Article 27 of the Charter.
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