Egypt’s permanent mission to the UN in Geneva today accused the high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, of “violating the principles of impartiality and objectivity established for his mandate” by having urged the country’s authorities to release the activist Alaa Abdelfatah.
The Egyptian diplomatic mission issued a statement rejecting Türk’s statement yesterday, in which he showed the African country his concern about the state of health of Abdelfatah, on a hunger and thirst strike since Sunday, and called for his release.
In addition, Egypt described as “unacceptable” the fact that the high commissioner described as unjust the prison sentence handed down against the Egyptian-British blogger since 2019.
“The content of the declaration deliberately undermines the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law as an indispensable cornerstone for the protection and promotion of human rights,” the Egyptian mission insisted in the statement.
He also called on the high commissioner to “focus on the protection of human rights through cooperation and dialogue” and urged him to “respect his mandate and show professionalism.”