Nine Muslim Brotherhood members killed last week by Egyptian security forces appear to have been executed, according to a Turkish forensic expert who examined photos of the crime scene.
The nine men – all of whom were members of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood group – were killed in a west Cairo apartment during a July 1 raid by security forces.
According to subsequent statements by Egyptian officials, the raid in 6th of October City had targeted “wanted criminals,” who, officials claimed, had been killed in an exchange of fire with security forces.
On Tuesday, however, Ismail Hamit Hanci, a professor of forensic medicine at Ankara University, said that the deaths appeared to be the result of an “execution” rather than a gunfight.
Hanci, who – along with a team of other forensic scientists – has examined photos from the scene where the incident took place, said the nine bodies were probably transferred to the scene after they were killed.
“If they were shot at the scene [i.e., in the apartment], we would have expected to see more blood,” Hanci said. “The photos from scene show very little blood.”
A Brotherhood source told Anadolu Agency that the nine people were killed when security forces stormed their apartment, but denied claims that they were armed.
Egypt has been dogged by instability since mid-2013, when Mohamed Morsi – Egypt's first freely elected president and a Muslim Brotherhood leader – was ousted in a military coup.
In the two years since Morsi's ouster, Egyptian authorities have carried out a relentless crackdown on dissent that has mainly targeted the ousted president’s supporters, especially members of the Muslim Brotherhood group.
Anadolu Agency