Egypt Army chief warns: Do not slander military

CAIRO: With the president by his side, Egypt’s army chief warned against slandering the military, denying in remarks broadcast yesterday that the military committed any abuses against protesters during the turbulent transition of the past two years.
Gen. Abdel-Fattah El-Sissi spoke following a late night meeting on Thursday between the country’s top brass and President Muhammad Mursi.
The meeting appeared to have been prompted by recent media leaks of parts of a report by a fact-finding mission commissioned by Mursi to investigate the deaths and abuses of protesters during and after the uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
The mission, whose report was finalized in late December but has yet to be made public, reportedly found that the army unlawfully detained protesters and was possibly involved in killings of some during the uprising and during the military’s nearly 17-month rule of Egypt after Mubarak’s ouster.
The Guardian, the British newspaper, quoted parts of the report it obtained, describing the military’s torturing of detained protesters, its role in the forced disappearance of others, and its possible responsibility for a number of killings of some who went missing and then turned up dead with signs of torture and beatings during the 18-day protests against Mubarak.
Yesterday, Human Rights Watch urged Mursi to release the report, saying it would be an acknowledgement of two years of military and police abuse, and a way to stem a culture of impunity.
But El-Sissi and Mursi’s comments late Thursday appeared to rebuff such calls, though they did not directly mention the fact-finding mission’s report or the media leaks.
“You must understand the armed forces is a very, very honorable institution, and very loyal and very careful of its nation,” El-Sissi said, standing next to Mursi and a line of the country’s top brass. “I swear by God the armed forces since January 25 (2011), and I swear by God, didn’t kill or order any killing, didn’t cheat and didn’t order any treachery, didn’t betray and didn’t order any betrayal.”
“I want to tell all those who listen to me that they must really watch out before defaming the military and its forces,” El-Sissi said. “It is honorable, nationalist and loyal and is very affected by any defamation it is subjected to.”
Mursi came to the defense of the military, saying, “I will not ever allow slanders in any way, shape or form or ... any means to attack any member of the armed forces starting from its leaders ... to its smallest member.”
“This is something I tell the whole society. Any slandering of any member of the armed forces is a slandering for us all,” he said.