Dr. Mohamed Beltagy, member of Egypt’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP)’s Executive Bureau, said that the US administration (and the US Embassy) – that previously tried to influence the domestic political game in Egypt by politicising NGOs – is now reverting to political interference using slogans about protecting and supporting freedoms, Egyptian media and media figures.
In a post on his Facebook page, Beltagy added: “The US administration and embassy erupted, outraged, as soon as one media figure was summoned for questioning, not incarceration, nor trial, arrest, detention or investigation, all under the pretext of protection of freedoms.The US embassy and administration have forgotten that the Egyptian people have witnessed how for over 30 years the US rewarded, protected and fully supported, politically and economically, the oppressive Mubarak regime while it heavily used executions, torture, military trials and imprisonment without charge, of thousands of citizens, not to mention blatant and massive electoral fraud and a total freeze of civil society – unions, syndicates, professional and student associations and NGOs. All these horrendous crimes took place under the nose and with the blessing of the US administration.”
Beltagy stressed that “the US administration’s professed staunch defence of freedom in the Arab world, selective and seasonal, is nothing but a political game. Recent and distant history bears witness to that.