Sisi to visit Britain despite outrage from Human Rights groups

Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi will visit the UK for high-level talks later this year, Downing Street confirmed on Thursday.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s invitation for bilateral talks comes despite criticism from human rights groups that accuse the former army chief of stifling descent and cracking down on opposition groups.  

Amnesty International has called the invitation “appalling”, with its Middle East and North Africa deputy director Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui stating that it was “astonishing and short-sighted”.

“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,” Sahraoui 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.”

Earlier this week an Egyptian court confirmed the death penalty for Egypt’s first democratically elected President Mohamed Morsi, who has been sentenced to death along with more than a 100 others in a mass trial. The verdicts can be appealed, but so far more than 300 people have been sentenced to death this year alone.

“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,” a Downing Street spokesperson told the Guardian.

“Where we engage with these countries of course we can raise matters of concern. No issues are off the table.”

Since Morsi was overthrown tens of thousands have been arrested, more than a thousand killed and hundreds sentenced to death in mass trials, widely condemned by rights’ groups. Latest reports also indicate that a growing number of people are being arbitrarily taken from their homes and forcibly disappeared.