Egyptian MPs denounce HRW allegations, call for its prosecution

CAIRO – 7 September 2017: A group of parliamentarians denounced on Thursday the Human Rights Watch allegations that torture and ill-treatment is carried out in Egyptian prisons, and called on the Egyptian government to internationally sue the Rights group.

The Rights group is ultimately aiming to enable the Muslim Brotherhood to reclaim presidency, said Alaa Abed, the chairperson of the Parliament's Human Rights committee.

Abed contended that the committee reviewed the names of those who have forcibly disappeared as per the HRW and found out that some of them are illegal migrants and that others have joined terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria.

The Undersecretary of the Parliament's Human Rights committee, MP Ali Badr, said that the committee is currently preparing a comprehensive report to respond to the HRW allegations. He further added that the timing of the release of such reports has always been suspicious, amid the mounting success of the Egyptian strategy to address the economic ailing situation.

Badr further said that the Rights group is relying on ungrounded information and unknown sources, calling on the Egyptian government to resolutely deter its plans and attempts to target national security.

MP Margaret Azer, deputy chairperson of Egypt parliament's human rights committee, called on human rights defenders from all over the world to stand up against the unprofessionalism of HRW that has become a tool at the hands of foreign agencies to pressure Egyptian authorities.

"Unfounded and biased" report

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced on Thursday "the unfounded and biased" report by Human Rights Watch in which it claimed that torture is a common practice in Egypt's prisons and that inmates are being ill-treated.

The ministry added in its statement that the Rights Group, which assert themselves as defenders of human rights around the globe, is resolutely relying on "undocumented testimonies and unconfirmed assumptions," condemning its use of anonymous sources and unrecognized organizations in its reports.

In this regard, the ministry denounced its clear and "desperate" attempts to depict the popular June 30 revolution as "a military coup", which denotes the objective and politicized nature of its approach.

The Ministry further condemned that the group deliberately ignored the progress made in the field of promoting human rights in Egypt over the past few years, demonstrating its deliberate intention to promote and incite violence.

"Unprecedented Development" in Prisons’ Sector

For their part, the Ministry of Interior's prison sector service brushed off the HRW allegations of the ill treatment of the inmates in Egypt's prisons in a statement released on Wednesday, confirming the ministry's keenness to maintain and uphold the values of prisoners’ human rights.

The statement highlighted that the prison sector is seeing "an unprecedented development," adding that the ministry has corporate suitable, well-equipped facilities for specialty inmates in Wadi al-Natroun prison to ensure that they would receive all necessary medical care.

In addition, the statement contended that the ministry conducts periodic inspections of prisons, adding that the sector always ensures that prison transport vehicles are suited with air conditioners and that it is not crammed.

The Interior Ministry is taking it up a notch to improve the health care conditions of prisoners, as well as their physiological and mental health.