BERLIN // Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi defended his government’s human rights track record on Wednesday, saying he was operating “amid very difficult circumstances.”
Mr El Sisi was responding after Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany is ready to do business with Cairo but opposes Egypt’s use of the death penalty, recently imposed on Muslim Brotherhood leaders including the former President Mohammed Morsi.
The two leaders were speaking at a lively news conference during a visit by Mr El Sisi to Berlin.
Mr El Sisi, who overthrew Mr Morsi following mass protests in 2013, has said Egypt must focus on stability and security to recover from years of turmoil unleashed by the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak.
Since Morsi’s removal, the military-backed government has waged a sweeping crackdown on his supporters.
Mr El Sisi said that though Morsi was democratically elected, the Egyptians who took to the streets in 2013 showed they wanted change “for a better future.”
“You must be reassured that we too in Egypt love freedom and democracy and we have fine human principles that we want to institute but amid very difficult circumstances,” he said. “We for sure have shortcomings in Egypt.”
He suggested without the removal of Morsi and the military intervention, violence among Egyptians would have spiralled into civil war.
“The Egyptian army has a special relation with its people,” Mr El Sisi said. “This army is part of this people, and moves with its pulse and protects it. It belongs to the people and not to any leader, starting from Mubarak, and until El Sisi.”
Ms Merkel emphasised that even though she and Mr El Sisi disagreed on some issues, Egypt was a pivotal country in the Middle East and that her policy was to always keep dialogue open even when there are differences of opinion.
“We have to have an eye on the interests of regional security and stability, which is of great meaning for the security of Germany and of all of Europe,” she said.
During the press conference members of the travelling Egyptian press corps clapped at times when Mr El Sisi spoke, while at the end a woman yelled in German “he is a murderer” as the two leaders left the room together.
Outside the building there was a similar scene, with a group of about 200 pro-El Sisi demonstrators waving Egyptian flags and another similarly-sized group pritesting against his visit. Police kept the two sides far apart.
Only hours before Mr El Sisi’s arrival, a court said it would give its final ruling next week on a death sentence recently handed to Morsi.
Asked whether he would intervene, Mr El Sisi said that a death penalty had many stages and appeals, and if he were to take any measure it would have to be after exhausting litigation processes. Egypt’s constitution allows the president to issue pardons after a ruling is final.
*Associated Press and Reuters