The Awareness for Research and Development (AWRAD) is about to release its first voluminous documentary work, The Massacre at the Presidential Guards Club on 5 and 8 July 2013: The first comprehensive academic documentation. It goes through the events of the first massacre that took place in Egypt after the coup of 3 July 2013, which is referred to by the media as ‘the events at the Presidential Guards Club’.
According to the researchers working on the documentation, the work comprises 5,000 pages, with a summarised version that highlights the main issues in 400 pages. This is the first part of a documentary encyclopedia the AWRAD has embarked upon to document the events of the Arab Spring in the Middle East.
Dr Muhammad Fareed al-Shayyal, Emeritus Professor of Islamic History in British Universities and the Chairman of AWRAD, announced the forthcoming release of this work in the inauguration ceremony of AWRAD, held in London on 15 May 2018.
The work gives us a descriptive account of the events, starting with an introduction which is followed by chapters devoted to martyrs, wounded, medical reports of injuries, prisoners, witnesses’ testimonies, other documents, photos and videos, the reports and analyses in the media, political attitudes, legal reports, legal steps taken, and creative works. It concludes with recommendations, appendixes and lists of sources and references.
The work defines 14 terms, nearly 1,000 photos of the event, and nearly 1,100 videos with a total of more than 70 hours. The work also provides 175 illustrative figures which include plans of the area where the event took place, photocopies of documents, 35 tables with clear percentages, lists of the victims, injured and arrested people.
The encyclopedia lists 140 victims in a consolidated document based on 42 supporting documents. It provides a summary account of every one of those who lost their lives in this massacre, which takes 200 pages. Another consolidated list gives the names of more than 800 persons who suffered various wounds and injuries, based on 62 supporting lists. It also lists the names of nearly 652 people who were arrested. This is an unprecedented and comprehensive work, based on clear documents, relating the events of this horrible massacre.
The encyclopedia speaks about 57 works of art and literature inspired by the event. Some of these are of professional quality and others are self-expressions.
The documentary encyclopedia describes at the end a number of artistic and creative public activities that document the massacre. These are classified under different modes of expression. It concludes with a number of recommendations and adds appendixes and a bibliography.
It should be noted that this massacre, which occurred at the door step of the Presidential Guards Club, took place only a few days after the statement issued by the Egyptian army announcing the overthrow of President Muhammad Morsy, the first elected civilian President of Egypt.
