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20:30 GMT
CAIRO, Jan 17 (KUNA) -- Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit
condemned here Thursday a European Parliament resolution criticizing the
status of human rights in Egypt.
Abul Gheit made the remarks after the European Parliament already passed a
resolution in this respect earlier in the day even after Cairo summoned EU
ambassadors to complain about the text.
Emphatically rejecting the resolution, the Egyptian foreign minister said
the European Parliament was ignorant about Egypt or even about how to deal
with it and its political, economic and social reforms over recent years.
"Egypt needs no lessons from any party, especially if this party is marked
by a high measure of arrogance associated with ignorance," he criticized.
He called on European members of parliament to hail Egypt's political and
social reforms instead of flatly rapping obstacles which the Egyptian
government seeks determinedly to remove.
Abul Gheit hailed the Egyptian People's Assembly, lower house of Egyptian
parliament, for boycotting the Euro-Mediterranean Parliament in response to
the European gadfly resolution.
In a related development, Spokesman for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry
raised his eyebrows at a para in the European resolution, criticizing Egypt
over tunnels used in the alleged frontier running of weapons to Gaza.
A mere mentioning of such a topic sends the resolution into question, he
said.
At a sparsely attended plenary session, 52 of the 59 deputies present voted
for the resolution, while seven abstained. The parliament seats 784 deputies.
The text criticizes Egypt over the status of religious minorities, alleged
torture practices and Egypt's decades-long state of emergency.
It also calls for the immediate release of jailed former member of
parliament and former Al-Ghad Party leader Ayman Nur, who was a rival to
President Hosni Mubarak in the 2005 presidential elections. He has been in
jail for fraud.
Ahead of the vote in Strasbourg, France, senior E.U. lawmakers vowed not to
bow to Egyptian pressure, after the parliament in Cairo announced it would
sever links with the European assembly.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry summoned the ambassadors of European Union
countries in Cairo to express its "complete rejection" of the European
Parliament resolution. (end)
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