In an interview with Foreign Policy in Washington, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry denied Egypt currently has 40,000 political prisoners and slammed Western governments for their lack of support in Egypt’s “war on terror.” Shoukry said the number is a “lie” and has been “repeated and repeated and repeated in the public domain until it has been accepted as a matter of fact.” Meanwhile, the West’s focus on Egypt’s human rights record is “unfair” in light of its lack of support to Egypt in its fight against terrorism, Shoukry. “Egypt has been treated as a culprit, and not as a victim,” Foreign Policy quoted Shoukry as saying. “When we have seen terror operations in other areas, there was a rush to solidarity. You would have thought that similar solidarity would have been shown to Egypt, especially as it goes through a very difficult stage.” He also criticized assumptions that Egypt is incapable of maintaining its internal security, referring in particular to the World Economic Forum’s “flimsy” decision to cancel a summit that was scheduled to take place in Sharm El-Sheikh. The minister also slammed allegations that the murder of Giulio Regeni,…
Egypt’s Foreign Minister Denies ‘Massive Crackdown’ on Opposition
February 9, 2016
