Foreign Ministry accuses HRW of being ‘suspicious and politicized’

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ahmed Abu Zeid slammed the New-York based Human Rights Watch on Saturday night, calling its work in Egypt “suspicious and politicized.”

According to the privately owned Al-Masry-Al Youm, Abu Zeid stated during a telephone interview with the TV show “90 minutes” that the Foreign Ministry could not respond to all reports by Western organizations.

However, Abu Zeid added that, “this organization’s [HRW] report could cause damage as it comes at the same time as the so-called anniversary of the dispersal of Rabea al-Adaweya and exploits the death of the Croatian hostage.”

“We are engaged in our development and are moving forward, so we will not pay attention to such biased reports," the spokesperson added. “Egyptian society stands on guard for these attempts to tarnish its image.”

The Human Rights Watch statement, which was released August 14 – the same day as the anniversary of Rabea al-Adaweya sit-in – accused the Egyptian government of refusing to “properly investigate the killings or provide any redress for the victims.”

The statement said that although security forces killed at least 817, and most likely more than a thousand people during the Rabea dispersal, there has been complete impunity for Egyptian authorities.

HRW also condemned foreign governments, in particular the US and Europe, for continuing their diplomatic relationships with Egypt in the wake of these human rights violations. Joe Stork, the deputy Middle East director of HRW, is quoted as saying, “Washington and Europe have gone back to business with a government that celebrates rather than investigates what may have been the worst single-day killing of protesters in modern history.”

HRW called on the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) to establish an international commission of inquiry into the Rabea dispersal. Stork stated that, “The UN Human Rights Council, which has not yet addressed Egypt’s dangerous and deteriorating human rights situation, is one of the few remaining routs to accountability for this brutal massacre.”

This is not the first time the Foreign Ministry has attacked HRW. In June 2015, the Foreign Ministry accused HRW of supporting terrorism and propagating lies in response to a report documenting human rights violations during Sisi’s first year in office.

The Foreign Ministry has also been actively defending itself against foreign media outlets in the aftermath of the beheading of the Croatian hostage held by the Islamic State-affiliated Province of Sinai. The Foreign Ministry also released a statement on Saturday saying that a report by CNN on the incident included misleading and incorrect information, and lacked basic objectivity.