Amnesty criticizes France over arms exports to Egypt

CAIRO – Amnesty International is criticizing the French government and accusing it of breaking its own rules over arms exports it has made to Egypt. The rights group says the weapons have been used for the internal repression of civilians.

Amnesty’s statement, released on Tuesday, says fresh analysis of open-source multimedia content shows “Egyptian security forces firing on protesters from within French supplied armoured vehicles.”

It says that “the evidence clearly shows French supplied Sherpas and MIDS vehicles being used during some of the bloodiest incidents of internal repression,” against civilians.

The statement mentions the clearing by Egyptian security forces of two Islamist sit-ins in Cairo on Aug. 14, 2013, in which hundreds of protesters were killed.