No 10 says David Cameron will raise ‘matters of concern’ with Sisi, who has enacted series of authoritarian laws since seizing power in 2013

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

David Cameron has invited Egypt’s president Abdel Fatah al-Sisi for talks in the UK, Downing Street has confirmed, despite widespread concern about the former army chief’s authoritarianism and human rights record.

The prime minister’s official spokeswoman said No 10 was looking at opportunities for a meeting in the UK. On Wednesday an Egyptian court upheld a death sentence against Sisi’s predecessor Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood. Sisi led the coup that overthrew Morsi in 2013.

“We have been looking at the possibility of President al-Sisi coming to have bilateral talks with the prime minister later this year,” the spokeswoman said.

Egyptian court confirms Morsi death sentence over jailbreak during uprising Read more

Hassiba Hadj Sahraou, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa deputy director, described the invitation as astonishing and short-sighted given the “appalling” human rights violations taking place in Egypt.

“There’s been a sharp rise in the number of death sentences and executions since Sisi came to power, some of which have taken place after grossly unfair trials. Thousands have been detained and many languish in jail, including journalists, in an apparent attempt to quash all dissenting voices,” Sahraou said.

“We want to see David Cameron personally raising human rights issues in any face-to-face talks with President Sisi, and we also want to see these issues addressed in public.”



Asked about Sisi’s record on human rights, Cameron’s spokeswoman said: “I think the prime minister has talked before about how it is important that we engage with countries where there are issues which are important to the UK’s national interest and how we can work together. Where we engage with these countries of course we can raise matters of concern. No issues are off the table.”

On Wednesday, Lady Anelay, a Foreign Office minister in the Lords, said Britain had raised its concerns about the situation in Egypt with the country’s ambassador in London.

“We raise our human rights concerns regularly with representatives of the Egyptian government,” Anelay said.

“[Foreign Office minister Tobias Ellwood] raised our concerns over the sentencing to death of over 100 individuals, including former President Morsi, with the Egyptian ambassador in London. Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials have also discussed this case and other human rights concerns with representatives of the Egyptian government.”

Since coming to power, Sisi has outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, saying it poses a grave threat to national security. The group maintains it is committed to peaceful activism.

Worse than the dictators: Egypt’s leaders bring pillars of freedom crashing down Read more

The UK government commissioned a report on the Muslim Brotherhood last year but it has still not been published. A spokesman said it would be released “in due course”.

Morsi became Egypt’s first democratically elected president in 2012, but was overthrown by the army in 2013 after widespread protests against his leadership.

The current regime then launched a crackdown against Morsi’s supporters in which more than 1,400 people were killed and thousands detained. Restrictions were also introduced on freedom of expression, association and assembly.



Legal specialists told the Guardian in December that Egypt was enacting authoritarian laws at a rate unmatched by any regime for 60 years.

In Cairo, Mohamed Lotfy, the executive director of the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms, said: “Egyptians have expressed multiple times their aspirations to live in dignity and freedom. This aspiration is not being met by the current government and was not met by previous governments either.

“The visit is an opportunity for the UK to remind the Egyptian president of his obligations toward these international human rights conventions and discuss how the UK could help Egypt get out of the human right crisis that it is in now.

“Any EU government should keep in mind that its not about normalising with a government, it’s about normalising with a people who deserve to live in dignity like any people in the world.”



Earlier this month, Egyptian security officials barred Lotfy from travelling to Germany, where he was set to address members of the Bundestag about human rights violations in Egypt – a visit scheduled to coincide with Sisi’s own visit to Berlin.