Members of the Egyptian government rejected Friday the allegations made Thursday by the European Parliamentary which passed a resolution responding to the “deteriorating” status of human rights in the North African country.
The Egyptian foreign ministry said the resolutions were “unfair” and do not indicate the status of human rights in Egypt.
Ministry spokesperson Ahmed Abu Zeid said the resolutions conflate the case of Italian national and Cambridge PhD student Giulio Regeni with the wider status of human rights in the country.
Regeni, who was in Egypt studying the formation of trade unions in the post-Mubarak political terrain, disappeared on 25 January. His body was found beside the Cairo-Alexandria Desert Road, showing visible signs of torture. The researcher’s death has prompted international censure amid speculation that Egyptian security forces were involved in his death. The case and investigations prompted the European Parliament’s resolution.
However, Abu Zeid disagreed with the EU parliamentary body’s claims and stated that Regeni’s death “is being investigated by both the Egyptian and Italian authorities.
The Egyptian parliament also denied the accusations and considered the decisions by the European Parliament as an “interference” in the state’s “internal affairs”.
On Thursday, the European Parliament held a plenary session in Strasbourg where MEPs discussed reported cases of human rights violations and the adaptation of “urgency” resolutions against Egypt.
A 588-member majority voted in favour of the proposed resolution while 10 MEPs against the measure and 59 abstained from voting. The European Parliament’s actions follow a motion for a resolution issued on Tuesday on Egypt, addressing the condition of human rights in the country with particular focus on the case of Regeni.
Besides demanding for truth in Regeni’s case, the resolution recommended an EU-wide arms embargo and the end of the export of any security equipment to Egypt.
