[ARABNEWS] President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi...former general under Mubarak, then Defense Minister. Egypt overthrew Mubarak and endured a year of ham-fisted Moslem Brüderbund rule so al-Sissi could run for President-for-Life...
acknowledged Tuesday that police committed rights abuses after the overthrow of his predecessor, but said they were expected given the "exceptional" security threats faced by Egypt.
"Nobody is against human rights
...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless...
... but today Egypt is in an exceptional condition... is it possible that there will be no violations?" asked al-Sissi.
"There will be violations. But do we approve them? No," he said in an address to coppers and ministers ahead of the annual police day on Jan. 25.
al-Sissi has repeatedly said that ensuring stability in politically tumultuous Egypt is a top priority rather than promoting democratic freedoms. "I am more concerned for human rights than any one else," said al-Sissi, after awarding families of coppers killed in security operations. "But come see millions of families... the modest Egyptians who live in regions that need to be improved. What about their rights?"
al-Sissi defended an ongoing security operation on the unrest-roiled Sinai Peninsula, where he said 208 forces of Evil have been killed by the security forces in more than a year.
The president said 955 people had been enjugged
... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not...
in the region, which borders Israel, but more than half had been released.
"These figures show that...we make sure that innocent people are not killed," he said, adding that the situation in Sinai would take a while to resolve.