‘Unacceptable interference in domestic affairs’: Egypt summons several Western ambassadors

Egypt summoned the ambassadors from Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands on Sunday, and is also going to summon the ambassadors of the UK and Canada, to protest a statement in which the above-mentioned countries condemned the detention of a human rights lawyer, Ibrahim Metwaly. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry has slammed the Western statement as “a blatant and unacceptable interference in domestic affairs and the work of the judiciary.” Metwaly was helping with an investigation into the death of Italian student Giulio Regeni, whose body was discovered in a ditch on the outskirts of Cairo in 2016, with signs of extensive torture, according to Reuters. Judicial sources told the news agency that he was detained on charges of spreading false news and joining an illegal group. The human rights advocate, who founded the Association of the Families of the Disappeared, was detained by airport security in September while heading to Geneva to attend a UN conference.