Foreign Ministry spokesperson slams US report on Egypt

In an official response to the US State Department 2013 Country Report on Egypt, the foreign ministry criticized the document for being “unbalanced, not objective and full of flaws,” privately owned Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper.

The report condemned violations in Egypt throughout 2013, highlighting the removal of an elected civilian government, the excessive use of force by security, the suppression of civil liberties and the military trials of civilians. The report also included violations committed by the Muslim Brotherhood under the rule of ousted President Mohamed Morsi, including restrictions on freedom of expression, arbitrary arrests and lack of religious freedoms. 

“The US has appointed itself a lawyer and defender of human rights issues for the world without any legitimate reason,” Badr Abdel Aty, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told journalists at a press conference on Saturday.

Abdel Aty explained that the Egypt report is one of several on different countries that the US produces on an annual basis, which is in itself a questionable act. He added that he would understand if such reports came out of the United Nations or human rights organizations, but not a country like the US. He wondered about human rights violations within the US and how it’s reporting about other countries’ violations represents double standards.

“The report talks about the deposing of a civilian elected government in Egypt and this contradicts reality because reality says that millions of Egyptians took to the streets on June 30 to demand their rights and the holding of early presidential elections,” he said.”

Abdel Aty criticized the report for speaking about human rights violations while disregarding the terrorism that Egypt faces on a daily basis against the police, the military and civilians. 

The report, issued on February 27 is part of a series of annual reports mandated by Congress to direct the US administration on questions of policy and foreign assistance.

While the report and the response to it have been read by some as a sign of souring diplomatic relations between the US and Egypt, analysts mostly claim that military ties between the two countries are too established to be unsettled by recent political changes in Egypt.