Britain slams Egypt’s human rights record
UK Foreign Secretary William Hague
 

The British government censured Egypt’s human rights record following the ouster of former President Mohamed Morsi in a report released on Thursday.

The annual Human Rights and Democracy Report, issued by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office led by Foreign Secretary William Hague, contains a case study on “post-revolution political upheaval in Egypt.” According to its executive summary, the report’s purpose was to “set out the steps we have taken to promote and protect human rights over the course of 2013.”

The report opens with the declaration that “the human rights situation in Egypt deteriorated in 2013.”

It goes on to outline a number of positions taken by the British government vis-à-vis the unfolding political situation in Egypt over the past year.

In July, UK initially opposed military intervention “as a way to resolve disputes in a democratic system,” and in August the foreign secretary issued a statement condemning “the use of excessive force” and the killing of more than 1,000 protesters during the dispersals of sit-ins calling for Morsi’s reinstatement.

Britain had also raised concerns over the situation in Egypt with the European Union Foreign Affairs council and United Nations Human Rights Council.

The report reiterated calls for an independent investigation into the operation to disperse the sit-ins, and Hague also called for an investigation into the death of a British journalist killed during the dispersal.

The case study suggested that both sectarian violence and violence against women continued to be causes for concern in 2013, though it acknowledged that the new Constitution ratified in January improves protection for religious minorities and women.

Nonetheless, under this Constitution “the military would retain the right to try civilians in military courts, albeit in more clearly defined circumstances,” the report warned.

While media freedom was limited during the one year of Brotherhood rule, the narrative claimed that “media freedoms have deteriorated further” since July 3.

“We have called on the Egyptian authorities to release political leaders and journalists detained since the events of July 3, unless there is a credible criminal case to be made against them,” the report exhorted.

The report’s release coincided with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton’s visit to Cairo on Wednesday and Thursday, her fourth such visit since Morsi fell from power.

Ashton met with leading officials and political figures including Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, interim President Adly Mansour, Foreign Affairs Minister Nabil Fahmy, Amr Moussa and the Secretary General of the League of Arab States, Nabil al-Araby.

According to a statement issued by Ashton’s spokesperson following the visit, during these meetings the policy chief “raised with all interlocutors the growing concerns about the death penalty notices as well as the detention of journalists and activists.”

Both the UK and the EU had issued strong condemnations of the mass death sentence handed down to 529 purported Muslim Brotherhood members in Minya this March. Hague called the sentencing “deeply worrying” and “unacceptable,” while Ashton issued a statement calling it “cruel and inhuman.”

However, Hamza Zawbaa, a spokesperson for the Brotherhood-affiliated Freedom and Justice Party, pointed out that Ashton’s tone wasn’t quite as firm during this visit. 

“Britain and Ashton and Europe are on the sidelines of the revolution’s agenda — the return of deposed President Mohamed Morsi — and we do not depend on them for anything,” Zawbaa told the satellite channel Al Jazeera Mubashir.

He described Ashton as performing a “washing operation” of Sisi’s record of rights abuses.

However, Ashton did caution the former defense minister that the EU would be watching the election proceedings closely and would send an election observation mission to monitor the voting process, according to her spokesperson’s statement.

Sisi struck a diplomatic chord when he commented on his meeting with Ashton, saying “there are strong strategic relations between Egypt and the European Union,” and adding, “We call on the European Union need to understand the nature of the Egyptian reality in this important phase of the history of the country, and Western societies should know that the coming period will witness the maintenance of freedoms and rights,” reported the privately owned newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm (AMAY), citing Sisi’s presidential campaign.

Not all leading officials were as optimistic about the relationship, however. In a phone interview with television host Mostafa Bakri on his talk show, “Facts and Secrets,” aired on the privately owned Sad al-Balad channel, Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb responded to Ashton’s visit by declaring that “we will not allow meddling in our domestic policy.” 

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