Egyptian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Ahmed Hafez said it is “inappropriate” to comment on the sentences handed down by the Egyptian judiciary, after Washington expressed disappointment with prison sentences against Egyptian activists.
Egypt’s state-run Middle East News Agency on Tuesday quoted Hafez as saying it is “absolutely inappropriate to comment in any way on judgments issued by the judiciary.”
”Such judicial issues may not be dealt with in any political framework or linked to the course of relations between the two countries, “the Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
Earlier on Monday, State Department spokesman Ned Price said the United States was “disappointed” by an Egyptian court’s five-year prison sentence for activist Alaa Abdel Fattah on Monday after his trial on charges of spreading false news.
”US officials raised human rights issues with their Egyptian counterparts and informed Cairo that US-Egyptian relations could be improved if progress was made on human rights, “Price said.
An Egyptian court earlier on Monday sentenced activist Alaa Abdel Fattah to five years in prison after he was convicted of joining a terrorist group and spreading false news.
An emergency state security misdemeanor court sentenced activist Alaa Abdel Fattah to 5 years in prison and lawyer Mohammed al-Baqer and Mohammed oxygen to 4 years in prison on charges of joining a terrorist group.
The prosecution charged the defendants with “crimes of joining a group established contrary to the provisions of the law, the purpose of which is to call for the disruption of the provisions of the Constitution and laws and to prevent state institutions and public authorities from carrying out their work.”
Egypt said on Saturday evening that it categorically rejected statements by the German government about the trial sessions of political activists, calling them “unacceptable”.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry issued an official statement saying:“ the Foreign Ministry rejects the statement issued by the German government ” on the trial of a number of defendants before the Egyptian judiciary.
”This method, which involves unacceptable excesses, is a blatant and unjustified interference in the internal affairs of Egypt, and is confiscated on a judicial track without evidence or objective support, “the Egyptian foreign ministry said in its statement.
