The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it summoned the ambassadors of five countries to protest a statement they issued regarding the detention of human rights lawyer Ibrahim Metwally.
The ministry said it strongly reject their comments and considered their statement a “barefaced interference” in Egyptian affairs and the judicial authority’s work. The ministry also said the statement contained wrong information and that the message they will send through the ambassadors is for their countries to stop mandating others.
Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Britain and Canada published a joint statement on 3 November saying they were “deeply concerned at the ongoing detention” of Metwally “who was detained at Cairo airport on September 10th on his way to the UN Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances working group.”
Metwally was working on forced disappearances cases and also investigating the murder of Italian student Giulio Regeni.
“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 statement published by the British government website read.
