Human Rights Watch want to attend Morsi hearing

NEW YORK  – Human Rights Watch applies to court to monitor whether proceedings will meet international standards in the hearing of ousted Egyptian President Morsi.

Human Rights Watch want to attend the initial hearing on Monday of ousted Egyptian President Morsi who is facing charges of ordering the killing of demonstrators in December last year when he was president.

Morsi who has spent the last 213 days in detention since his July 3 ouster by the  military, will be making his first public appearance.

“We want to monitor the trial closely in order to check whether the proceedings will meet  international standards” said Joe Stork, Director of Middle East and North Africa Region for New York based human rights watchdog, to AA reporter. ‘We applied to court to attend as an observer for the initial hearing”.

Stork emphasized that the interim administration appointed by military is responsible for the killings of hundreds of peaceful demonstrators. “Nobody would be immune from the law, including the presidents and ex-presidents. We are very concerned about the high level prosecutions and investigations conducted by the interim administration since Egyptian army came to power with a coup in July last year.”

Stork said it is normal to be on trial for the killings during his presidency and said “There is something overlooked here, the killings of mostly peaceful protesters by the security forces on 14th of August also has to be accountable.”

“Being able to choose one’s own lawyer is one of the crucial standards of fair trial. It seems that Morsi could not exercise this right,” said Stork.