Human Rights Watch Daily Brief, 15 August

On the day after the deadly crackdown in Cairo, the official estimate of the number killed in the clearing of two protest camps and other violence rose throughout the day. Government authorities now put the death toll at 638.  Human Rights Watch researchers visited mosques and morgues, interviewing survivors and counting the dead as families searched for relatives. On Twitter, follow HRW's Egypt director Heba Morayef and researchers Erin Evers & Adam Coogle for updates on the crisis. Amid growing calls to suspend military aid, President Obama condemned the "steps that have been taken by Egypt's interim government and security forces," and cancelled joint military exercises scheduled for next month.  Wednesday morning, researcher Erin Evers received a frantic call at 7 a.m. from a contact inside Raba’a al-Adaweya. He said, “It’s starting. We’re surrounded. They’re firing on us from three sides.” Evers spent much of last year in Iraq and is seeing worrying similiarities in Egypt. Meanwhile, an accounting was being taken of the toll from clashes around the country, including a slew of attacks against churches. It’s no mystery why Indonesia’s Islamist militants have been emboldened to extend their acts of harassment, intimidation and violence against the country’s Sufis.        
The government of President Yudhoyono has proven unwilling to confront the perpetrators of religious violence. From this morning