Foreign Affairs Minister defends Egyptian judiciary during UK visit

In his visit to the United Kingdom, Foreign Affairs Minister Nabil Fahmy stated that the foreign journalists in Egypt currently facing charges of associating with the Muslim Brotherhood are undergoing a fair trial, asserting that the government cannot intervene in their cases.

In addition to several Egyptian journalists facing trial, Al Jazeera journalist Peter Greste, an Australian native, has been detained since December. Greste, along with 20 other defendants, including Egyptian-Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy, face charges of propagating false information and cooperating with the Muslim Brotherhood, a group that has been declared a terrorist organization and banned accordingly. The Egyptian government has not responded to international demands for the journalists’ release.

When asked about the recent mass death sentences that raised eyebrows across the globe, Fahmy downplayed the verdict, stating that only a few of the defendants will actually receive a death sentence, and that most have just been given maximum sentences as per standard procedure, because they were tried in absentia.

In April, a Minya court sentenced 683 Muslim Brotherhood members and supporters, including Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie, to death. The same court had sentenced 429 Brotherhood members to death in another case. 37 of the verdicts in the earlier case will be upheld, with the remaining defendants receiving life sentences instead.

Fahmy also said that the West is revising its position toward Egypt. The UK is one of many western governments that took punitive measures against Egypt following the dispersal of pro-Muslim Brotherhood protests in August, and canceled joint military training with Egypt as a reaction to the violent dispersal that left over 1,000 dead.

In April, Egypt criticized the British government for issuing a warning about Egypt’s deteriorating human rights record in an annual report.

Fahmy started his visit on Sunday and is scheduled to meet with UK Foreign Secretary William Hague on Wednesday, in addition to other political figures and representatives of the Egyptian community in Britain.