Visit of French president to Egypt overshadowed by claims of rights abuses

French President Francois Hollande’s meeting with Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi was overshadowed by claims of human rights abuses in the country, the British Daily Mail newspaper reported.

The paper published a report which claimed that the French president’s press conference with Al-Sisi was dominated by the Egyptian leader’s human rights record.

Hollande urged the Egyptian authorities to respect human rights during their efforts to combat terrorism, adding that respecting human rights is not an obstacle to fighting terrorism.

“Human rights are not a constraint but also a way to fight against terrorism,” he said.

Hollande said he had raised the case of murdered Italian student Giulio Regeni and the case of Eric Lang, a French teacher who was murdered in an Egyptian jail in 2013.

On the eve of Hollande’s visit, rights groups including Amnesty International criticised what they called France’s “deafening silence” on allegations of abuses in Egypt.

Hollande arrived in Cairo on Sunday for a two day visit to attend the signing of economic agreements between the two countries.