Egypt summons 5 western ambassadors over lawyer's 'detention'

CAIRO - 5 November 2017: Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has summoned ambassadors of the UK, Holland, Germany, Canada and Italy over their criticism of Egyptian rights lawyer Ibrahim Metwali's "detention", the Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesperson announced in a statement on Sunday.

"Egypt is strongly dissatisfied with the blatant and unacceptable interference in its internal affairs and in the work of the judiciary," the statement read.

Egypt has called on the five countries to be accurate in their termings, concerning the case of Ibrahim Metwaly, who was arrested not detained.

Egypt voiced its full rejection of the misrepresentation in the western countries’ statement on the status of non-governmental organizations and the alleged existence of torture in Egyptian prisons.

The five western countries issued a statement on Saturday and expressed heir concern over the ongoing "detention" of Metwaly, who was helping investigate the death 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 countries' statement read.