An anti-government alliance in Egypt has called on its supporters to hold a rally to protest the worsening situation in the North African country.
In a statement released on Thursday, the National Alliance to Support Legitimacy (NASL) urged its followers to stage a week-long demonstration, starting Saturday. The alliance, established to support former President Mohamed Morsi, has held regular protest rallies since his ouster last year.
Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically-elected president, was toppled in a military coup led by Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Egypt’s current president and the then army commander.
Sisi is accused of leading the suppression of Muslim Brotherhood supporters as hundreds of them have been killed in clashes with Egyptian security forces over the last year.
Rights groups say the army’s crackdown on the supporters of Morsi has left over 1,400 people dead and 22,000 arrested, while some 200 people have been sentenced to death in mass trials.
International bodies and rights groups have already denounced the rulings as a grotesque example of the shortcomings of Egypt's justice system.
The UN Human Rights Council has also repeatedly expressed concern over the Egyptian security forces’ heavy-handed crackdown and the killing of peaceful anti-government protesters.
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