Egypt summons Western ambassadors over criticism of rights lawyer detention

Egypt’s foreign ministry has summoned five Western ambassadors in protest to their joint statement condemning the country’s detention of an Egyptian human rights lawyer and the continuation of torture in Egypt.

“Ambassador Ehab Nasr, Assistant Foreign Minister for European Affairs, has summoned ambassadors of Germany, Italy and the Netherlands to the ministry’s headquarters,” a statement by the ministry read, adding that “the procedures to summon the British and Canadian ambassadors were ongoing”.

The ministry said that the call aimed “at presenting an official protest against a statement released by the three countries on the detention of the Egyptian lawyer Ibrahim Metwally”.

The statement noted that the criticism from the five Western countries was ”a blatant and unacceptable interference in domestic affairs and the work of the judiciary”.

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Nasr called on the “the Western countries’ ambassadors to seek accuracy in reporting the legal position of Metwally, who is not a detainee but held pending investigations conducted by the general prosecution”.

“Egypt fully rejects the misrepresentation in the western countries’ statement on the status of non-governmental organisations and the alleged existence of torture in Egyptian prisons,” the spokesperson stressed.

On Friday, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Britain and Canada issued a statement critical of the detention of Metwaly, who was helping investigate the murder of the Giulio Regeni, an Italian PhD student whose body was discovered in a ditch on the outskirts of the Egyptian capital in 2016 showing signs of extensive torture.

“We call on the Egyptian authorities to ensure the freedom of civil society and the protection from torture that are enshrined in the Egyptian Constitution,” the countries’ joint statement read.

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“We continue to call for transparency over the conditions in the Egyptian jails,” the statement added.

Metwaly, who established the Association of the Families of the Disappeared after his son disappeared four years ago, was arrested by airport security last September while heading to Geneva to attend a UN conference on enforced disappearances, according to the members of his group.