Egyptian authorities will bar 55,000 unlicensed clerics from preaching in mosques in the government's latest move against sympathizers of deposed President Mohamed Morsi.
Minister of Endowments Mohamed Mokhtar Gomaa said the clerics were fundamentalist and a threat to the Egypt’s security, Reuters news agency reported.
“The decision will help legalize the preaching process during Fridays’ mass prayers," Gomaa told Reuters.
Authorities have moved to crush Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood following the overthrow of Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected leader. Morsi has been jailed on charges of inciting or taking part in violence and many high ranking Muslim Brotherhood officials have been arrested on charges of terrorism and inciting violence against protesters.
In Geneva, Amnesty International called on Tuesday for an independent investigation into killings by the security forces. The military’s overthrow of Morsi unleashed an “extreme level of political violence,” the London-based group told the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, according to Reuters.
“Between August 14 and August 18, at least 1,089 people were killed, many due to the use of excessive, grossly disproportionate and unwarranted lethal force by security forces,” said Peter Splinter, Amnesty representative in Geneva.
An impartial investigation was urgently needed into human rights violations, he said.
