According to the Independent, Egypt has for years deftly deflected international concerns by focusing attention on its counter-terrorism and security challenges, and unlike Iran, Russia, or China has escaped harsh western scrutiny for its human-rights violations, which include disappearing political dissidents, torturing detainees, and holding prisoners of conscience in dank, overcrowded prisons for months without access to legal recourse. Former US President Donald Trump famously referred to Mr Sisi as "my favorite dictator" and overlooked all but persecution of American nationals.
In recent months, the Egyptian authorities appear to have grown more confident internationally, recently resuming diplomatic relations with rivals Qatar and Turkey. Both countries supported the presidency of the Mohamed Morsi, whom Sisi shoved from power and jailed following weeks of popular protests, the Independent said.
Finland's envoy, Kirsti Kauppi, read the statement on behalf of the following countries: Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Montenegro, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, New Zealand, Norway, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States of America.
Tellingly, the statement by Ms Kauppi gave a nod to the increasing 'security' partnership between Field Marshal Sisi and the west. "We recognize Egypt's role in supporting regional stability, managing migration, fighting against terrorism, and recall the need to counter terrorism in full respect of international human rights law," she said.
37 Egyptians sentenced to death after unfair trial
On March 2, 2020, an Egyptian court sentenced 37 people to death on terrorism-related charges. Responding to today's death sentences of 37 defendants by the Cairo Criminal Court, Philip Luther, Amnesty International's Research and Advocacy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said:
There is no doubt that those sentenced to death today have been convicted of serious crimes, including deadly attacks. However, the death penalty can never deliver justice, all the more so when it has been issued after a trial in which dozens of defendants say they were subjected to enforced disappearance and torture.
"We are calling on the Egyptian authorities to retry the defendants in proceedings that comply with international human rights law and fair trial standards, without recourse to the death penalty.
The 37 defendants are among 208 defendants convicted of carrying out 54 militant attacks between 2013 and 2014. These included killing high-ranking police officers and bombing a security directorate office in the city of Daqhaliya, as well as an assassination attempt on the former Egyptian interior minister, Mohamed Ibrahim, in 2013.
The court also sentenced 61 defendants to life sentences and 88 others to prison terms ranging from five to 15 years. The remaining 22 individuals died during the course of the trial.
Amnesty International has serious concerns about the fairness of the trial. According to a report issued by the Egyptian Front for Human Rights in 2019, many of the defendants who were detained said they were subjected to enforced disappearance and torture: 70 defendants told prosecutors that they were subjected to enforced disappearance for periods up to five months, during which 62 of them said they were tortured by being beaten, subjected to electric shocks to the genitals or suspended for prolonged periods while handcuffed and naked.
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