Macron avoids ‘lecturing’ el-Sisi on human rights issues

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday it was not up to him to ‘lecture’ Egypt on civil liberties during his meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday it was not up to him to “lecture” Egypt on civil liberties during his meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

Rights groups demanded Macron raise allegations of torture and political repression in Egypt, but instead the French president stressed that Egypt was a vital partner in the fight against “Islamic extremism” in the Middle East and Europe.

Meanwhile, Reporters Without Borders held a demonstration outside the Egyptian president’s hotel in Paris, claiming that el-Sisi’s crackdown on press freedoms – which included the over 300-day detention of Al Jazeera’s Mahmoud Hussein – has made it impossible to be an independent and free journalist in Egypt.

Al Jazeera’s David Chater reports from Paris.