Egypt slams Amnesty over claims of 'all-out repression'

The London-based group says mass arrests have
replaced mass protests in its report released on
the second anniversary of the demonstrations
that led to Islamist president Mohamed Morsi's disposal

Two years after Islamist president Mohamed Morsi's
ouster, Egyptian authorities have continued their
onslaught on young activists to crush dissent, 
in a sign that the country has regressed into 
"all-out repression", Amnesty International 
said on Tuesday, in a report Egypt's government
has qualified as "false allegations" and "lies".

In the report released on Tuesday, the London-based
rights watchdog criticised what it called a 
"blatant attempt" by the Egyptian authorities 
to "nip in the bud any future threat to their rule".

Amnesty looked at the cases of 14 young people
among thousands it said were arbitrarily arrested,
detained and jailed in Egypt over the past two 
years in connection with protests.

"Mass protests have been replaced by mass arrests,"
the group said on the second anniversary of the 30
June massive protests that toppled Islamist
president Morsi after a sole year of divisive rule.

"By relentlessly targeting Egypt’s youth activists, 
the authorities are crushing an entire generation’s
hopes for a brighter future,” said Hassiba Hadj
Sahraoui, deputy director of the Middle East and
North Africa Programme at Amnesty International.

Following the 2011 uprising that toppled long-time
strongman Hosni Mubarak, youths were seen as 
the catalyst of change in a country long oppressed
under autocrats.

"Yet, today, many of these young activists are
languishing behind bars, providing every indication
that Egypt has regressed into a state of all-out
repression," said Sahraoui.

Amnesty said a crackdown led by President Abdel
Fattah El-Sisi has seen more than 41,000 people
arrested, charged or indicted with a criminal
offence, or sentenced after unfair trials.

“The scale of the crackdown is overwhelming,"
Sahraoui said. "The Egyptian authorities have 
shown that they will stop at nothing in their 
attempts to crush all challenges to their authority.”

Foreign ministry spokesman Badr Abdelatty denied
that Egypt is targeting youth activists, saying in a
statement on Tuesday that Amnesty had 
presented "false allegations" and "lies" in 
its report.

Egyptian officials accuse rights organisations of 
serving foreign agendas that aim to undermine the
country's security and stability, a view the
spokesman reaffirmed on Tuesday.

The rights group said that the clampdown initially
began with the arrests of Morsi and his supporters,
but has rapidly expanded to include the country's
entire political spectrum.

It said a new round of arrests in mid-2015 saw at
least 160 people detained "in conditions amounting
to enforced disappearance".

Amnesty claimed that not a single member of the
security forces has faced criminal charges over the
deaths of hundreds of Morsi supporters at Cairo
protest camps on 14 August 2013.

Foreign ministry spokesman Abdelatty said that the
organisation "lacks credibility" by addressing
developments in Egypt from "a biased, subjective
perspective that raises questions".

He slammed what he called Amnesty's "politicised
policy" of relying on "unknown and undocumented
sources" for its information, while ignoring official
censuses and reports.

Amnesty urged Egypt's western and European allies
not to "sacrifice" human rights in their talks with the
authorities, saying there had been "no indication
that stopping gross human rights violations in
Egypt was on the agenda" during previous
meetings.

"The gross hypocrisy of Egypt's partners has been
laid bare in a race for lucrative business deals,
political influence and intelligence, as well as new
sales and transfers of policing equipment that
could facilitate human rights violations," Hadj
Sahraoui said.

On Monday, the group condemned as "despicable,
cowardly and cold-blooded" the killing of late
prosecutor-general Hisham Barakat, whose convoy
was struck by a car bomb in Cairo earlier on the
same day.

"If the rule of law is to prevail in Egypt, judges and
prosecutors must be free to do their job without the
threat of violence," Amnesty said, urging authorities
not to respond with further repression.

#Qatar's #emir to attend #Sharm #Arab summit, Egypt minister says

Qatar's emir to attend Sharm Arab summit, Egypt minister says

Despite tensions with Cairo, Egyptian minister says Qatar's emir will attend an Arab League summit due later this month in Sharm El-Sheikh

Emir of Qatar Sheik Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani

Qatar's emir will attend an Arab League summit due to take place in Egypt later this month, an Egyptian official said, sign of a possible ease in political tensions between the two Arab states.

Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said in comments to private TV channel Sada El-Balad on Tuesday that Egypt "has received a notification" that Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad will participate in the annual gathering of the 22-member bloc.

The 26th Arab League summit will take place on March 28-29 in Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh, with national security in the Arab countries topping the agenda, officials say.

Saudi Arabia's King Salman is expected to lead a line-up of Arab leaders at the summit who will also include Iraqi President Fouad Masoum.

Egypt and Qatar have fallen out over Doha's backing of Egyptian Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, who was ousted in 2013, and his Muslim Brotherhood group. 

Cairo has been incensed by Doha's hosting of several exiled leaders of the Brotherhood, now banned and designated a terrorist organisation by Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

Qatar's emir did not attend a global investor conference Egypt hosted earlier this month in the coastal city. But a delegation from his country headed by a top economic ministry official participated in the three-day international gathering which saw Egypt secure $12 billion of investments and central bank deposits from Arab Gulf allies of Kuwait, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, and sign billions of dollars of deals.

In February, Qatar recalled its ambassador to Cairo over a spat at a meeting of the league in Cairo where Egypt's delegates accused Doha of supporting terrorism.

The new flare-up of tension came after Qatar expressed reservations over Egypt's recent air strikes against Islamic State group targets in Libya in response to the beheading of 20 Egyptian Coptic Christians.

Qatar's suspension in December 2014 of its Egypt-focused Al Jazeera channel, accused by Cairo of serving as a mouthpiece for the Brotherhood, as well as its banishing of seven Brotherhood leaders in September were seen as good-will gestures by Doha to mend relations between both states.  

Bomb wounds four policemen in #Egypt's #Sinai

The explosive was planted at the entrance of an apartment building in the provincial capital of Al-Arish



Four Egyptian policemen were wounded on Monday by a bomb in the volatile Sinai Peninsula, security sources said.

The explosive was planted at the entrance of an apartment building in the provincial capital of Al-Arish, said the sources.

Security forces face a jihadist insurgency that has killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen since the ouster islamist Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist group in 2013 after mass protests against his rule.

Most attacks have been in the Sinai, which borders Israel and the Gaza Strip.

Security officials say Sinai-based militants are inspired by Islamic State, the al Qaeda offshoot that controls parts of Iraq and Syria and wants to redraw the map of the Middle East.