Brussels, 08/03/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 7 February, the ALDE Group called for an EU response to the fact that around a dozen revolutionaries had been taken before a military court in Egypt. Civilians thus prosecuted include presidential candidates, activists, journalists, representatives of the people and writers who had “allegedly incited hatred against the decision by the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) and attempted to bring the state down”. The president of the Group, Guy Verhofstadt, thus urged EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton to convene the Egyptian ambassador so that he may explain the situation. “This looks like a reckoning of the Supreme Council of Armed Forces with the main leaders of the Egyptian revolution a few months before it will transfer power to an elected president. It is absurd that those people who succeeded in bringing down a dictator are now accused of seeking to bring down the state”, he added.
Edward McMillan-Scott (NA, UK) said: “We should rethink the funds the EU promised Egypt after the revolution”. He went on to say that one of the Egyptian human rights organisations had said that “Egypt is living through the worst crackdown of human rights and civil society for 25 years. It shows once more that with the military in power Egypt is actually worse than before”. (CG/transl.jl)