Egypt summoned the ambassadors of Canada, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Britain on Sunday in protest against a statement they made criticising the country’s detention of a human rights lawyer.
Ibrahim Metwaly was helping investigate the case of a murdered PhD Italian student, whose body was discovered in a ditch on the outskirts of the Egyptian capital, Cairo, in 2016 showing signs of extensive torture, Reuters reports.
An Egyptian Foreign Ministry statement said the criticism from the five Western countries was a blatant and unacceptable interference in domestic affairs and the work of the judiciary.
“It is unfortunate that such a statement would be issued from countries that call for respecting rule of law and the principles of separation of powers,” it said.
Metwaly founded the Association of the Families of the Disappeared after his son disappeared four years ago.
Members of Metwaly said that he was taken by airport security in September while heading to Geneva to attend a U.N. conference on enforced disappearances.
They later said a state prosecutor had ordered his detention.
Judicial sources said on Saturday that Metwaly was detained on charges of spreading false news and joining an illegal group, and that his pre-trial detention was in accordance with the law.
Rights activists say Egyptian authorities kidnap dissent and keep them in secret jails without charges. Egypt denies the accusations.
