Alaa Abdel Fattah case used to distract attention from COP27: Egypt’s FM

CAIRO – 10 November 2022: The case of Egyptian citizen Alaa Abdel Fattah, currently in prison over criminal charges, is being used to distract attention from the 2022 UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) held in Sharm El-Sheikh city, Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said.

In an interview with Ala Masoliety TV program on Sada El-Balad, Shoukry said Egypt has issued the required responses with regard to Abdel Fattah to reiterate the credibility of the Egyptian judiciary.

He added that the case has taken advantage of the conference’s momentum, affirming the need to focus on the global existential issue of climate change.

“The matter that we are in is related to a global issue that should be focused on. Raising another matter represents a detraction of the existing effort regarding the climate summit,” Shoukry stated.

Late last year, Abdel Fattah, who has been detained since 2019, has been sentenced to five years in prison over charges including joining a terrorist group and spreading false news.

On Tuesday, High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk called for Egyptian authorities to release the imprisoned blogger who, according to his family, is in a hunger strike.

The Egyptian mission to the UN in Geneva said Tuesday that it rejects Türk’s statement, calling the commission’s description of a judicial ruling as “unfair” is an “unacceptable insult.”

The commission’s statement further undermines the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law as an indispensable cornerstone for the protection and promotion of human rights, the Egyptian mission added.

Türk’s statement “violates the principles of impartiality and objectivity stated in the General Assembly resolution establishing his mandate, and is addressing an individual issue on the basis of selectivity which further puts in doubt his objectivity,” the mission asserted.

The mission called on the High Commissioner to focus on promoting and protecting human rights through cooperation and dialogue rather than advocating the violation of national laws.