Amnesty: 1,400 dead in Egypt since Morsi’s ouster

Some 1,400 people have died in Egypt since the July ouster of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi, according to an Amnesty International report published Wednesday.

Most of those deaths were the result of excessive force used by security forces, the human rights watchdog said. It noted that at least 95 security personnel had also been killed in violent attacks since the summer’s military coup.

The group pointed to mass arrests and restrictions on freedom of expression and the right to protest, saying that Egyptian authorities, headed by General Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, “quash dissent and trample on human rights.”

Amnesty charged, “Security forces have been given free rein to act above the law and with no prospect of being held to account for abuses.”

The report was released just three days before the third anniversary of the start of a popular uprising that toppled longtime Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak.