Speaker of Egyptian Parliament: ‘Human Rights Watch’s report on Sinai politicised'

Speaker of the Egyptian House of Representatives Ali Abdel-Aal stated that Human Rights Watch (HRW) is a “politicised” organisation and is in violation of its charter.

Abdel-Aal indicated at the parliament’s plenary session on Sunday that “HRW’s charter says it is an organisation that seeks reform. However, it has become an organisation that aims to destroy political regimes and participates, both directly and indirectly, in the destruction of many political systems in several countries.”

He continued: “All human rights trustees do not count on the data released by HRW at all, as this organisation follows a specific and systematic plan to destabilise states. Thus, many of its reports are biased in favour of terrorism. HRW is attempting to devastate countries. The problem is not related to HRW only but has to do also with those who provide it with misleading reports from inside and outside Egypt. However, the world’s free men and women do not count on HRW’s statements.”

Abdel-Aal praised the role of the people of Sinai throughout the history of Egypt, asserting: “The people of Sinai have honour as they expressed their sense of integrity, patriotism, and their loyalty to the Egyptian state in 1956, 1967, and 1973 and until now. They are strong supporters to the state, army, and police.”

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Abdel-Aal’s comments came in response to an urgent statement issued by MP Mustafa Bakri on HRW’s latest report on countering terrorism in Sinai.

Bakri described the report accusing the Egyptian security forces of being involved in crimes as “a misleading report on the situation in Sinai and on the role of the Egyptian army and police. A terrorist organisation can only issue this report because it is biased in favour of terrorist organisations. It would not be surprising at all that Al-Jazeera and its media allies make a fuss about this report, which is aimed at supporting terrorism.”

Bakri added: “We are used to these kinds of reports issued by many organisations such as Amnesty International and HRW, which tend to overlook the martyrs’ rights. Those organisations did not see hundreds of the martyrs’ children gathered around the president.”

He added: “We are sending a message from the parliament to all concerned parties, to express our rejection of all attempts to falsify facts. Thus, we refuse all sorts of interference in the internal affairs of Egypt, and we reject all attempts to target our brave army and police officers, who are ethically facing terrorism.”