Turkey's Humanitarian Aid Foundation (İHH) has filed a criminal complaint at a prosecutor's office in İstanbul against the authors of the coup staged in Egypt on July 3 on the charge of committing crimes against humanity, Turkish news agencies reported on Thursday Today`s Zaman reported.
Members of the İHH demanded prosecution for Egypt's chief military officer, Gen. Abdel al-Sisi, who led the coup; Mohamed ElBaradei, the former president of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), who began serving as deputy president after the ousting of the government; and Ahmed el-Tayeb, the country's most prominent Muslim cleric, as well as administrators of the al-Nour Party, Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II and others related to the coup.
Twenty lawyers representing the İHH and Turkish journalist Abdurrahman Dilipak went to the İstanbul Courthouse in Caglayan on Thursday to file their complaint before making a statement to the press at the courthouse.
Ugur Yıldırım, a lawyer, made the statement on behalf of the group, saying their complaint was against the perpetrators of the coup in Egypt and that those involved have committed crimes against humanity, including murder with intent, attempted murder, aggravated assault, looting, torture and kidnapping.
Yıldırım cited Turkish Penal Code (TCK) Article 13 and said that committing a crime against humanity in a foreign country can be prosecuted under Turkish law regardless of whether the perpetrator is Turkish.
Journalist Dilipak called for other countries to follow in their steps and take a stance against an attack on the fundamentals of state legitimacy.
In early July, the Association of Human Rights and Solidarity for Oppressed Peoples (MAZLUM-DER) also filed a complaint against Egyptian coup makers at the Ankara Prosecutor's Office under the same article of the TCK.
Since the beginning of the unrest in Egypt, the Turkish government, which strongly condemned the July 3 coup in Egypt, has been criticizing European countries and Gulf Arab states for not taking a stand against Egyptian military.