Washington: Egypt carries out worst Counter-Terrorism Strategy

US Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labour Tom Malinowski has criticised Egypt’s counter-terrorism strategy, describing it as “the worst ever invented”.

“The worst counter-terrorism strategy ever invented is Egypt’s mass incarceration of thousands of peaceful activists and opposition supporters right alongside the most hardcore terrorists”, Malinowski said on Friday in a forum at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

“We need to cooperate with countries in the region, including with Egypt, to share information about terrorist groups and plots so we can stop attacks before they happen,” he added.

He pointed to the necessity for a political reform that gives all legitimate stakeholders in the Middle East a voice in their governance, including peaceful Islamist parties.

The Human Rights Monitor (HRM) last July has described the torture in Egyptian prisons as a likely crime against humanity.

The organisation pointed in a report to Egypt’s continuous violations of human rights, adding that murder, torture, rape and corpse mutilation practices have become usual act in Egypt.

The Human Rights Monitor organisation has called on the international community to urgently take an action to save the lives of thousands of detainees. It also called for pressuring the Egyptian government to adhere to the rules of detainees’ treatment.

According to international organisations’ estimates, Egyptian authorities is detaining about 40,000 of its opponents suffering poor conditions marred by torture, adding that hundreds have died in detentions.