Egypt objects to U.S. criticism on human rights

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry on March 14 objected to recent criticisms from the United States on its human rights record, Reuters reported the same day.

Egypt’s anger was directed towards a White House statement voicing displeasure over a crackdown on members of the political opposition, as well as the annual human rights report put out by the U.S. State Department. The report accused Egypt, a major recipient of U.S. aid, of unfairly detaining Internet bloggers, cracking down on independent journalists and civil society groups, and jailing political prisoners, such as former presidential candidate Ayman Nour.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry responded by calling the report “unfortunately a mix of non-objectivity and non-science in presenting biased views of some non-governmental organizations.”

The ministry also showed its displeasure with the White House statements, insisting they “reflect a lack of understanding of the Egyptian political realities and raise questions at the same time about the true motivation behind the contents of these statements.”

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