The Response of the Egyptian Government
Despite repeated complaints by Egyptian lawyers and documentation by local and international human rights organizations, the Egyptian government continues to deny that security forces take and abuse hostages. In a June 1993 document prepared for Human Rights Watch, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs maintained that Egypt "does not waver in its dedication to the respect of human rights and basic freedoms." The Foreign Ministry stated that the Interior Ministry fully complies with Egyptian and international law in carrying out its activities.
The Foreign Ministry denied that family members were detained as hostages. It asserted that "security agencies, when carrying out arrest orders, do not target any person other than those designated for arrest by the orders. Only in cases where opposition, aggression or resistance are exhibited toward the commissioned force by a family member or a neighbor would someone other than the intended be presented before the [prosecutor] in a legal context." The Foreign Ministry further wrote: "The stirring up of allegations about the detention of women as hostages and their exposure to disgrace, torture and the violation of their virtue in some regions of Upper Egypt comes as part of a broad plan on the part of terrorist groups to arouse popular sentiment against security operations, whereby they take advantage of the special role that the woman plays in eastern society."
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