“The Secretary-General once again urges all sides to act with maximum restraint. He supports the rights of all Egyptians to hold peaceful protests. He calls on the interim authorities to ensure law and order along with guaranteeing the safety and security of all Egyptians,” Ban’s spokesperson said in a statement.

“The Secretary-General renews his calls for a meaningful national dialogue and an inclusive reconciliation process. The aim must be to chart a peaceful path towards a full return of civilian control, constitutional order, and democratic governance,” the statement added.

Protests on Friday and Saturday have left scores of people dead and hundreds others injured. In a new statement, Ban stressed that Egypt’s security forces must act with full respect for human rights, including guaranteeing the rights to free speech and assembly. The Secretary-General appeals to all the people of Egypt to address their differences through dialogue and again renews his calls to all parties to engage in an inclusive and meaningful reconciliation process.

Ban also urged demonstrators to exercise restraint and preserve the peaceful nature of their protests.

“The Secretary-General appeals to all the people of Egypt to address their differences through dialogue and again renews his calls to all parties to engage in an inclusive and meaningful reconciliation process,” according to the statement.

The crisis in the country escalated earlier this month, resulting in the Egyptian military deposing President Mohamed Morsy amid widespread protests in which dozens of people were killed and wounded. The Constitution was then suspended and an interim government set up.

Ban urged the interim authorities to end arbitrary arrests and other reported forms of harassment. Morsy and Muslim Brotherhood leaders currently in detention should be released or have their cases reviewed transparently without delay, he added.

Meanwhile, speaking at a news conference in Geneva, the spokesperson for UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay stressed that it is extremely important that security forces in Egypt do not resort to excessive use of force.

“People have a right to make peaceful protests,” said Rupert Colville. “All measures taken by the authorities must fully respect the law and international human rights standards. We will be closely following how the situation develops.”

In the clash near Cairo University, the dead included both local residents and Morsy supporters. Based on visits to hospitals and a morgue and interviews with 15 witnesses, Human Rights Watch identified 11 of the dead, including at least 4 residents of the area and at least 3 participants in a rally and march to support Morsy.

“The deaths on the streets of Egypt over the past several days cry out for an impartial investigation,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The available information indicates that both supporters and opponents of Morsy – and possibly security forces as well – were responsible for needless loss of life.”

Human Rights Watch spoke with six of the people injured in the clashes as well as other witnesses. Supporters of Morsy said that civilians – whom they could not identify but described as “thugs”, or baltagiya – and security forces were responsible for some killings. Residents of the area said that Brotherhood supporters attacked them, and shot and injured a police officer.

Witnesses interviewed by Human Rights Watch agreed that police were at the scene briefly but did not intervene to stop the bloodshed. Residents of Bein al-Sarayat, the area where the clashes took place, said they called the police and the army, but, as one put it, “No one came.”

The newspaper Al Masry al Youm reported that Health Minister Mohamed Mostafa Hamed said on July 3 that 18 people had died in the violence near the university during the previous night, and that violence across Egypt since June 30 had left 32 people dead.

On the afternoon of July 2, thousands of Muslim Brotherhood supporters gathered in Nahda Square near Cairo University, in the Giza district of Cairo, for a rally on behalf of Morsy’s presidency. Several Morsy supporters told Human Rights Watch they had come under attack by unidentified “thugs” while walking toward the university from the northeast to attend the rally. The Morsy supporters began marching with others on Ahmed Zewail Street, along the university’s northern edge, toward Tharwat Bridge.

At around 5 p.m., fighting broke out between marchers and people in the buildings on the north side of the street. Several local residents told Human Rights Watch that scuffles began when marchers attacked university students holding up anti-Morsy posters. Violence escalated when residents ran to help the students and were attacked by Morsy supporters, the witnesses said. Two residents showed Human Rights Watch large, fresh wounds on their heads that they said were caused by Morsy supporters wielding clubs and wooden and metal sticks.

Both pro- and anti-Morsy witnesses said they heard gunfire beginning at about 6 p.m. Residents who participated in the clashes acknowledged they armed themselves with stones, rocks, and knives, and Morsy supporters acknowledged that some of them carried guns. Morsy supporters said they came under gunfire from people in buildings on the northern side of Ahmed Zewail street, before reaching Tharwat Bridge, and residents of the area said that gunmen on the roof of a university building on the south side of the street as well as Morsy supporters fired on them. Morsy supporters acknowledged detaining, questioning, and severely beating some men they identified as paid “thugs” who had attacked the march on Ahmed Zewail street.

Exchanges of gunfire intensified at around 10 or 10:30 p.m., witnesses said. Human Rights Watch observed repeated bursts of automatic fire, in addition to other gunfire, at around 11:40 p.m., near the intersection of Cairo University Road and Ahmed Zewail Street. An emergency intake doctor at Um al-Masriyeen hospital in Giza told Human Rights Watch that the majority of gunshot victims who arrived there were injured in the upper body. In cases in which the victims had been shot with live ammunition, the angle of the wound indicated that the shooting had come from above – the tops or upper stories of buildings, the doctor said.

Residents who opposed the pro-Morsy demonstration told Human Rights Watch that they phoned repeatedly for police assistance, but that security forces only arrived after midnight. Videos taken by local journalists that Human Rights Watch viewed show armored vehicles in the area at nighttime, but a resident interviewed in one of the videos said she was not aware of a stabilizing police presence until the following morning at 8 a.m. Residents said that Morsy supporters shot a police officer in the face. One Morsy supporter said he saw members of the Central Security Forces arrive and begin firing automatic weapons at around 11:30 p.m., killing a Morsy supporter.

A July 4 statement from the Interior Ministry said it had formed teams to investigate various events over recent days, arrest all suspects regardless of their affiliations or alignments, and enforce the law on all without discrimination.

On several occasions in the past, including the killing of 42 civilians in Port Said, Human Rights Watch has determined that police used greater lethal force than necessary to protect themselves or others from violence, killing civilians. Both the past excessive use of lethal force, and police failure to minimize casualties during the latest round of violence, indicate the continued and pressing need for security sector reform.

Under international human rights standards applicable to Egypt at all times, law enforcement officials need to take all reasonable steps to protect lives, especially when aware of specific threats. But they can only use intentional lethal force when strictly necessary to protect life.

“Accountability for serious crimes by all parties is key if the transitional government is serious about moving toward an inclusive and democratic Egypt,” Stork said. “Investigations into the awful events at Cairo University, in which Morsy supporters apparently were both attackers and victims, will be a crucial test.”

The UN Special Rapporteur on Truth, Justice, Reparations and Guarantees of Non-Recurrence, Pablo de Greiff, welcomed the Government’s efforts to implement transitional justice measures over the last two years, especially in the areas of truth and reparations.

“I commend the Tunisian Government for the efforts to create a legal framework that refers to the four elements of transitional justice, namely, truth, justice, reparations, and guarantees of non-recurrence,” he said in a news release issued at the end of his first official mission to the country.

“However, the transitional justice process in Tunisia continues to face some serious challenges,” added de Greiff, a human rights expert from Colombia who has worked with different transitional justice bodies around the world.

The Special Rapporteur’s visit took place amid the country’s constitutional drafting process and the work towards the adoption of a law on transitional justice.

Tunisia has been moving towards becoming a society based on the rule of law in the wake of an uprising by its people, in 2010-2011, in which they demanded democracy and freedom, leading to the removal of the long-standing regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Their actions sparked a wave of popular uprisings, known as the Arab Spring, that brought down regimes in Egypt, Libya and Yemen.

de Greiff urged the North African country’s authorities to further their efforts on prosecutions, in the areas of institutional reform of the judiciary and the security sector, including vetting, which are essential to guarantee the non-recurrence of violations.

The Government must put the concept of human rights unambiguously at the centre of all transitional justice efforts, he stated, adding that a gender sensitive approach is also needed.

“Establishing effective measures dealing with past abuses requires deliberately designed mechanisms of institutional coordination,” he emphasized. “I therefore propose that an inter-ministerial coordination body be established to face the important challenges that lie ahead, and that guarantee adequate service delivery to victims.”

Independent experts, or special rapporteurs, are appointed by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council to examine and report back, in an unpaid capacity, on specific human rights themes. Mr. de Greiff will report on his mission to Tunisia at a session of the Council in 2013.