Egypt rejects criticism of human rights record
Egypt's senate and parliament on Saturday rejected accusations of human rights violations levelled this week by dozens of countries at the United Nations Human Rights Council. In a rare oral rebuke of Egypt at the council, 31 countries issued a joint statement Friday voicing alarm at restrictions on free expression and assembly suffered by political opponents, rights defenders and journalists in the North African country. They expressed particular concern at "the application of terrorism legislation against peaceful critics". "We are deeply concerned about the application of terrorism legislation against human rights activists, LGBTI persons, journalists, politicians and lawyers," said Kirsti Kauppi, Finland's ambassador to the UN in Geneva, reading the joint statement. Egypt's senate said Saturday that "no lawyer, journalist or human rights lawyer or human rights activist is in custody unless he has committed a crime justifying the actions taken against him -- whether through a fair trial or fair investigations conducted by a judiciary fully independent from the executive branch". "The Egyptian state has only used anti-terrorism laws against those who have already committed...