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‘Restricted’ Immunity to High Ranking Officers in Egypt

Egyptian Parliament. AFP/Asmaa Waguih
Egyptian Parliament. AFP/Asmaa Waguih
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‘Restricted’ Immunity to High Ranking Officers in Egypt

Egyptian Parliament. AFP/Asmaa Waguih
Egyptian Parliament. AFP/Asmaa Waguih

The Egyptian Parliament has passed a draft-law to give senior military officers “restricted” immunity from prosecution and diplomatic status when traveling abroad.

The bill was endorsed by a majority of parliamentarians with only eight MPs in the 596-seat assembly voting against it.

It would come into effect once published in Egypt’s Official Gazette.

It stipulates granting immunity to officers for any action they might have carried out from July 2013 to January 2016, when the current Parliament started its first session about two months after it was elected, unless the Supreme Armed Forces Council opposes it.

The law also protects military officials named by a presidential decree from interrogation or prosecution for “any action committed” during this period.

Separately, the Parliament’s approval of a draft-law to offer citizenship to foreigners has stirred reactions.

The draft-law stipulates that foreigners staying in Egypt could get a stay-with-deposit visa by paying no less than 7 million Egyptian pounds (less than $400).

It also calls on the interior minister to grant the Egyptian nationality to foreigners who stay in Egypt with a deposit for at least five successive years.

Before becoming law, the draft bill would be the subject of further consultations at the Parliament and needs the final approval of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

Head of Parliament’s defense and national security committee General Kamal Amer defended the law and said it grants incentives to foreigners to invest in the country.

However, Egyptian MP Haitham al-Hariri accused the government of "selling the Egyptian citizenship.”

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Syria Rescuers, Activist Say Site outside Damascus Believed to Be Mass Grave

This aerial view shows a site believed to be a mass grave near Baghdad Bridge in Adra, about 35 kilometers east of Damascus, on December 25, 2024. (AFP)
This aerial view shows a site believed to be a mass grave near Baghdad Bridge in Adra, about 35 kilometers east of Damascus, on December 25, 2024. (AFP)
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Syria Rescuers, Activist Say Site outside Damascus Believed to Be Mass Grave

This aerial view shows a site believed to be a mass grave near Baghdad Bridge in Adra, about 35 kilometers east of Damascus, on December 25, 2024. (AFP)
This aerial view shows a site believed to be a mass grave near Baghdad Bridge in Adra, about 35 kilometers east of Damascus, on December 25, 2024. (AFP)

A key Syrian rescue group and an activist told AFP on Wednesday a burial site outside Damascus was likely a mass grave for detainees held under former president Bashar al-Assad and fighters killed in the civil war.

In a vast walled area located near the Baghdad Bridge, some 35 kilometers (22 miles) from the capital, AFP journalists visiting the site saw a long row of graves more than one meter deep, mostly covered with cement slabs.

Several of the slabs had been moved and inside, white bags could be seen stacked over each other with names and numbers written on them. One of the bags contained a human skull and bones.

"We think this is a mass grave -- we found an open grave with seven bags filled with bones," said Abdel Rahman Mawas from the White Helmets rescue group, which visited the site several days earlier.

He told AFP by telephone that the bags, six of which bore names, were "taken to a secure location", adding that "necessary procedures were begun for DNA testing".

He said if additional graves had been exposed it meant other people may have been searching the site, warning people to "stay away from graves and let the relevant authorities handle them".

The site, near the Adra industrial area northeast of the capital, is less than 20 kilometers from the Saydnaya prison.

Diab Serriya, from the Association of Detainees and Missing Persons of Sednaya Prison, said the site was first identified in 2019 through "testimony of an intelligence personnel member who had deserted".

Satellite imagery suggests the site was in use from 2014, he said.

"Probably this grave contains detainees but also former regime or opposition fighters killed in battle," he told AFP by telephone.

The notorious Saydnaya complex, the site of extrajudicial executions, torture and forced disappearances, epitomized the atrocities committed against Assad's opponents.

Serriya said "the bags of bones were probably brought from other graves", adding that "the road to discovering who is buried here will be long".

The doors of Syria's prisons were flung open after an opposition alliance ousted Assad this month, more than 13 years after his brutal repression of anti-government protests triggered a war that would kill more than 500,000 people.

The fate of tens of thousands of prisoners and missing people remains one of the most harrowing legacies of the conflict.

Mohammed Ali from the Adra municipal council denied residents were aware of the site, which is located near a Syrian army facility.

"It was forbidden to approach it or take photos as it was a military zone," he told AFP.