French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday it was not up to him to "lecture" Egypt on civil liberties during his meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

Rights groups demanded Macron raise allegations of torture and political repression in Egypt, but instead the French president stressed that Egypt was a vital partner in the fight against "Islamic extremism" in the Middle East and Europe.

Meanwhile, Reporters Without Borders held a demonstration outside the Egyptian president's hotel in Paris, claiming that el-Sisi's crackdown on press freedoms - which included the over 300-day detention of Al Jazeera's Mahmoud Hussein - has made it impossible to be an independent and free journalist in Egypt.

Al Jazeera's David Chater reports from Paris.