Egyptian rights group sues prime minister over demolition of ancient cemeteries

A prominent local rights group filed a lawsuit before an administrative court against Egyptian prime minister Mostafa Madbouly, as well as several other senior officials, to stop the ongoing demolition of old cemeteries located in Cairo.

In the urgent legal proceeding, the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR) called on the concerned authorities to protect the cemeteries and archaeological buildings that have distinguished architectural heritage as well as allocate a special location for these antiquities, the group said in a statement on Wednesday.

The Egyptian cabinet could not be reached for comment at the time of publishing.

The demolitions were part of the government's expansions of main roads in Cairo that aim to ease traffic congestion in the over-populated capital.

The centre represented a number of experts in archaeology and history in its attempt to halt the recent operations carried out in historic Cairo cemeteries in the Al-Khalifa neighbourhood in southern Cairo, known as Al-Imam Al-Shafaie cemeteries and Al-Sayeda Nafisa cemeteries in the northern part of the capital.

Unconfirmed news indicated that the grave of Imam Warsh, the initiator of the second most common recitation of the Holy Quran in the Islamic World, has been among the demolished ones, kicking off a wave of outrage on social media platforms.

The cemeteries in question were allocated to bury state senior officials and notables and were established along the same style as old cemeteries hundreds of years ago of iconic figures of thought, culture, politics, religion and art, as well as the members of the monarchy that ruled Egypt long ago.