CAIRO: American Ambassador to Egypt Francis Ricciardone, paid an “informal and “friendly visit to the National Council for Human Rights (NCHR) this week, a government body charged with protecting human rights.
The meeting was held privately between Ambassador Ricciardone and the Deputy Chairman of the Council Ahmed Kamal Abou El Magd.
According to a source at the NCHR, who preferred to remain anonymous, the two discussed a number of the country’s most pressing human rights concerns.
Highlighted on the agenda were the right to a fair trial, freedom of expression and belief, religious equality, conversion, and the practice of trying civilians before military courts.
According to Arabic language daily Al-Masry Al-Youm, Ambassador Ricciardone told Abou El Magd that “the current American administration has contributed significantly to harming the image of the United States in the world, which is also the view of many Americans.
The ambassador could not be reached for comment to verify this statement.
The goal of the meeting was to investigate ways to improve cooperation between Egypt and the United States in defending human rights.
Abou El Magd reportedly told Ambassador Ricciardone that Egypt welcomes American interest in the country’s human rights concerns and welcomes its cooperation. But there is a thin line between cooperation and interference in Egypt’s internal affairs, he warned, and the United States must not cross it by weighing in on individual cases.
“We are not sensitive about cooperation and we can talk about mutual rights issues, provided they are general issues, not individual, he said, according to Al-Masry Al-Youm.
But on the issue of military tribunals, Abou El Magd was willing to be more specific, and explicitly opposed the practice of trying civilians before military judges.
“We object to referring civilians to military courts, whether from the Muslim Brotherhood or others, he said.
