The world in general has condemned the massacre the brutal Egyptian security forces committed against its own people. Shamelessly, the Egyptian ambassadors around the world have tried to justify the action by saying that the killing was necessary. What else can one expect from those who are paid to defend the killers?

Nothing justifies the killing of peaceful citizens. The barbarism shown by the Egyptian security forces cannot be condoned by any civilized human being. Even beasts show some mercy to their opponents. Without prosecuting those responsible for killing the innocents, the blood of the victims will never dry. Egyptian military and government have lost legitimacy to rule over the country, hence the criminals should be brought to justice under international court of justice. This is the only way to restore decency and civility in Egyptian politics. 

There are individuals and groups who have been trying to diffuse the situation and confuse the people by making three specific arguments.

1. If the democracy is restored in Egypt, and Morsi is brought back to power, al-Qaeda will become strong and civil liberties of people will be curtailed

2. The Muslim Brotherhood is responsible for the massacre as they used children and women as human shield.

3. The Muslim Brotherhood is lying about the number of dead.

Egyptians hard fought democracy and the will of the people must be respected. Even if the argument that that Morsi was not a good administrator and his government was not inclusive, he was still legitimately elected to run the country. Those opposed to him should have used democratic methods to bring him down. They should have campaigned for his recall through ballot. They did not use it. Rather the opposition leadership conspired with the army to stage a coup. For almost four decades Egyptians were denied civil liberties, yet they managed to overthrow the Mubarak regime. There is no reason to believe that they would not have done the same with Morsi through democratic means. I do believe that Morsi's policies were inept, his style of management was incompetent and his approach to minorities was questionable, yet, the change should have come through the ballot and not through the barrel of the guns. The argument that al-Qaeda was gaining grounds in Egypt during Morsi's period is an absurd argument that has no basis in facts. Al-Qaeda is as much an enemy of the Muslim Brotherhood as it is an enemy of the west. 

The argument that Muslim Brotherhood used children and women as shield is also absurd. Women are as much part of democratic process as men are. Their presence in the streets in defense of democracy speaks volumes of the change that has taken place in Egypt since the ouster of Mubarak. One cannot expect parents to leave their children unattended at home if they were participating in the campaign to restore democracy. The security forces should have shown extra caution while dealing with the situation. Rather than firing live bullets on unarmed and innocent civilians, they should have left the demonstrators stay where they were. It is their right to demand justice in a peaceful manner. After all army was not dealing with the enemies of the state. It was dealing with its own people who are responsible for its continuity and sustenance. But the beastly manner in which the army acted, it has shown that it has no regard for civil liberties and is treating its own citizens as enemies.

The third argument about the number of dead is even more ridiculous. Every human life is sacred and it must be protected. Even the killing of one person deserves to be mourned. The Egyptian army has revealed its Mubarak era criminal nature and contempt for the sacred by committing a bloodbath and burning down a Masjid.

The people supporting the military should take this as a sign that the security forces will take similar action against anyone who do not toe the line of the army. It is this arrogance of power that has no place in the modern world. But the way to deal with such element is through peaceful non violent method. The Muslim Brotherhood supporters have every right to organize peaceful non violent marches and if they commit any act of violence against anyone, then the security forces and the judiciary has the authority to prosecute them, but to deny them the right to voice their views openly and kill innocent people is tyranny and a crime against humanity.

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Dr. Aslam Abdullah is the director of the Islamic Society of Nevada and the editor of the Muslim Observer weekly.