Egypt’s parliament and human rights organizations on Saturday have further condemned a European report on the state of Egyptian human rights, calling it both “opportunistic” and “an explicit violation of human rights.”
Egypt stated that it strongly rejects all allegations made by the European report, and said that the matter came to exploit human rights as a pretext to meddle with Egyptian affairs.
It the decried the report as inconsistent with international conventions and Egypt’s sovereignty over its lands.
Several Egyptian political parties consisting of Mostaqbal Watan, al-Wafd, al-Masreen al-Ahrar, al-Moatamr, and the Youth Coordination of Parties and Politicians also criticized the report, calling it a new form of political blackmail.
According to the head of the African Affairs Committee in House of Representatives Tariq Radwan, the European Parliament used the report to make international impressions without conducting a practical study on the ground.
Youth Coordination of Parties and Politicians stressed that the deliberate selectivity in choosing facts and cutting them out of their context is a clear politicization of files of human rights and freedoms.
And representative Tariq Al-Khouly, the Secretary of the Foreign Relations Committee in the House of Representatives, said “Look for human rights in the member states of your parliament.”
Egypt in December 19 sharply criticized the European Parliament over its resolution regarding human rights situation in Egypt.
A statement issued by the House of Representatives, headed by Speaker Ali Abdel-Aal, said that it was greatly dissatisfied with what was included in the European Parliament’s resolution on human rights in Egypt.
“Parliament deplores, once again and in the strongest possible terms, the continued and intensifying crackdown on fundamental rights and, among others, the persecution of human rights defenders, lawyers and civil society in Egypt,” the EU parliament on Friday said.
“The ongoing arrests and detentions are part of a broader pattern of intimidating organizations that defend human rights, and calls for an end to these acts.”
It further deplored attempts by Egyptian authorities to “mislead and hinder progress in investigating the kidnapping, torture and murder in 2016 of Giulio Regeni, an Italian researcher, and laments the Egyptian authorities’ persistent refusal to provide Italian authorities with all the documents and information needed to enable a swift, transparent and impartial investigation.”
In response the Egyptian Parliament Speaker said that the resolution included many fallacies “contrary to reality”, slamming the resolution as unacceptable and contrary to the Egyptian-European strategic partnership.
