French editors lash out at 'interference' in Egyptian affairs

PARIS – Chairman of the Board of the Middle East Center for Studies in Paris (CEMO) Abdel Rahim Ali met Thursday a host of leading French writers and the chief editors of a number of French newspapers at his home in Paris to discuss cooperation with press establishments and newspapers in the Arab world, especially on terrorism and against the dangers posed by the Muslim Brotherhood and its international organization.

Those attending the meeting included Eve Triar the chief editor of the French morning daily, Le Figaro, Jill Mehalis, the managing editor of the French site CoZour, Alexandre del Valle, the managing editor-in-chief of the news site Atlantico, Osama Khalil, the manager of L'Harmattan publishing house, CEMO Executive Manager Ahmed Youssef and human rights lawyer Afifa Takari.

Ali especially dwelt on a recent statement by the French Foreign Ministry that criticized Egyptian authorities for their arrest of an Egyptian national who had violated Egypt's NOGs law.

The journalists and writers attending the meeting lashed out at the French Foreign Ministry for issuing the statement.

Triar said the French government cannot issue a similar statement to criticize human rights violations in other countries, including in the United States, Russia and Algeria.

"Why does the French government criticize a legal action taken by Egyptian authorities?" Triar asked.

Mehalis considered the French interference in Egyptian affairs "illegitimate".

"This interference gives insights into the double standards applied by France in dealing with international relations," he said.

Those attending the meeting expressed enthusiasm for cooperation with press establishments and newspapers in the Arab region.

Ali pledged at the end of the meeting to organize similar meetings in the future on the road to formulating an action plan for application as of the beginning of next year.

The action plan, he said, would clarify the difference between Islam as a religion and the violent groups that claim to be speaking for this religion.