# Security forces clear the Rab’a sit-in; HRW identifies 817 dead Date: 2013 ## The fact On 14 August 2013 Egyptian police and army forces cleared the Rab’a al-Adawiya sit-in in Cairo. Human Rights Watch identified 817 people killed at Rab’a and said the true total is more likely at least 1,000; it named then-Defence Minister [Abdel Fattah el-Sisi](/people/abdel-fattah-el-sisi) in the chain of command. Egypt’s National Council for Human Rights cited 624 civilians. Contemporaneous Health Ministry counts sat lower. Prime Minister Hazem al-Beblawy later said the Rab’a and al-Nahda dead were “close to 1,000.” ## Context He was defence minister and deputy prime minister for security. The Interior Ministry executed. HRW wrote. [Morsi](/people/mohamed-morsi) supporters had occupied the square after 3 July. This page stores the count disagreement. It does not pick 817 as Contribution.size. 3 July ouster; 14 August Rab’a; al-Nahda the same day. Stored as one 14 August 2013 Fact. Keep Security forces clear the Rab’a sit-in; HRW identifies 817 dead on 2013-08-14 separate from neighbouring coup, Rab’a, referendum, and 2023-return instruments. The president of Egypt is head of state and supreme commander. In 2013 he was defence minister and deputy prime minister for security. He can announce an ouster, command a dispersal, and accept an NEA return. He does not write an HRW investigation, an IMF board minute, or a unique Rab’a integer invented here. ## Evidence and sources Reuters (recording official and EIPR figures) carries the official instrument or communique. Human Rights Watch records the same dated act independently. ## Significance The path is [civic space](/drivers/civic-space): a completed mass killing HRW documented and named Sisi in the command chain. ## What is established and what is not Established: Security forces cleared Rab’a on 14 August 2013. HRW identified 817 dead at that square. NCHR printed 624 civilians. Counts are contested. What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date or name, a later repeal, a court that vacated the instrument, or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of later institutions. The date is the date of this instrument, not a licence to back-date every later harm or benefit. The Interior Ministry executed. Sharing execution is not a reason to drop 14 August 2013.. A later repeal, court stay, or successor order would be a different Fact with a different date. That pair identifies Security forces clear the Rab’a sit-in; HRW identifies 817 dead, not a later speech about Security forces clear the Rab’a sit-in; HRW identifies 817 dead. Co-authors and later implementers named in Context remain on the file. Security forces clear the Rab’a sit-in; HRW identifies 817 dead on 2013-08-14 is not a licence to treat every later Reuters (recording official and EIPR figures) communique as this same act. If a later repeal, stay, or successor instrument exists, it needs its own date and its own row. This dossier refuses to average Security forces clear the Rab’a sit-in; HRW identifies 817 dead into a personality. The contribution described on this Person row is limited to HRW named him in the chain of command as defence minister. The Interior Ministry executed. Sharing execution is not a reason to drop 14 August 2013. That limit is the alternative to treating office-holding as authorship of every later series. ## People - Abdel Fattah el-Sisi: https://factrail.ai/people/abdel-fattah-el-sisi ## Drivers - Civic Space: https://factrail.ai/drivers/civic-space - Sisi post-2013 military presidency: https://factrail.ai/drivers/sisi-post-2013-military-presidency ## Sources - https://www.hrw.org/report/2014/08/12/all-according-plan/raba-massacre-and-mass-killings-protesters-egypt - https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/rights-groups-call-accountability-over-2013-egypt-sit-in-killings-2023-08-14/ ## Methodology https://factrail.ai/methodology Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/eg-sisi-rabaa-2013