Egypt's Foreign Ministry strongly rejected a report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on human rights conditions in Egypt.
The ministry’s spokesman, Ahmed Hafez, rejected what was mentioned in the report saying that it was not acceptable to see this kind of document coming from a United Nations body.
Hafez criticized the report for lacking accuracy and being based on assumptions and impressions that only aimed at disseminating information that was contradictory to reality and facts on the ground.
He said in a statement released late Friday that the report, as the OHCHR itself has indicated, was founded on uncertified information which only meant that the allegations it contained were based on wrong perceptions and uncorroborated hearsay.
“Rushing to make judgements” is an act that reflects non-professionalism on the part of the OHCHR, he charged.
He asserted that Egyptian authorities abided by the law and acted with clarity and transparency when they took legal action against any person.
He also asserted that no citizen in Egypt was detained or brought to trial for making actions that were allowed by the law or for criticising the government. But a citizen who committed a crime was punished for breaking the law, he added.
He made it clear that the Egyptian law and constitution granted people the right to protest peacefully. “But, to exercise that right they have to comply with certain standards and rules,” including informing the authorities concerned of their intention to stage protests and ensuring that they do not act in a way that disturbed social peace and harmed the rights of other citizens, he said.
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