CAIRO, August 7 (Itar-Tass) - The statements made in Cairo by US Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham were assessed by the Egyptian authorities as direct interference in the country’s internal affairs. Interim Egyptian president’s media adviser Ahmed Al-Muslimani said on Tuesday night.
McCain’s remarks, he said, were assessed in Cairo as suggesting that Washington regards the events after June 30 as nothing else but a military coup. In this connection, the authorities accused him of distorting reality. “McCain’s statements are clumsy, they are unacceptable in form and substance as distorting historical facts and events,” the MENA news agency quotes the adviser as saying.
Al-Muslimani stated that the Egyptian side “is currently studying these statements and reserves the right to give an adequate response to them.” At the same time, he added, the millions who took to the streets do not need recognition by such people as McCain to prove that it was a real revolution.
At the final press conference in Cairo on Tuesday evening, McCain urged the release of the Muslim Brotherhood leaders, most of which are now under investigation, and to respect human rights in Egypt, preserving the right to peaceful rallies. He first of all meant in this case the rallies of the Islamists in Cairo, to which the authorities want to put an end.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian government head’s media advisor Sharif Shawky described the US position on the Egyptian issue as “confusion and hesitation.” “We will not allow it to interfere in the Egyptian affairs,” he said. “And we emphasis this to all delegations visiting our country.” “The people the release of which is demanded by the Americans are under investigation, and their cases are the sole responsibility of the Egyptian justice,” Shawky stressed. “And the country’s authorities do not interfere in the Themis affairs.”
He highlighted the fact that the visit of the two senators to Cairo will be the subject of a separate discussion by the Cabinet.