Egypt faced 'unprecedented violence' since Morsi's ouster: Amnesty

Egypt has seen violence on an "unprecedented scale" since the army ousted President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013, Amnesty International said.

A recent report released by Amnesty accused Egyptian security forces of regularly committing human rights abuses, the BBC reports.

The report said some 1,400 people have been killed in political violence since army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ousted Morsi in July last year, following weeks of mass protests.

It called for the security forces to be held accountable for human rights violations and urges the authorities to loosen their stranglehold on civil society and allow peaceful protests and other avenues for lawful dissent.

However, the foreign ministry described the report as tarnishing the facts, claiming that the government respected human rights while it was "combating terrorism".

According to the report, there has been no proper investigation into the deaths of more than 500 Morsi supporters in August crack down by the security forces on their sit-in protest in Rabaa al-Adawiya Square.

Meanwhile, the presidential and parliamentary elections are due to be held in the coming months.

The report came two days before the third anniversary of uprising that forced President Hosni Mubarak to quit in 2011.