Sisi says ‘there can be no return to dictatorship in Egypt’

President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi responded to reports of human rights abuses in Egypt and stressed that “there can be no return to dictatorship” in the country, state-run news site Ahram Online reported on Tuesday.

In an interview with a US-based TV channel, Sisi stated that that media outlets have not given an accurate representation of the human rights situation and the state of NGOs in the country.

The president - currently in New York to attend the 71st United Nations General Assembly – said that Egyptian media “says what it wants as there are no restrictions and there is no dictatorship in Egypt.”

Law to regulate NGOs

Yet he added that Egypt’s House of Representatives is currently discussing a law to regulate NGOs, as his government aims to achieve security and stability due to what he describes as “a faction” in Egypt that resorts to violence against the state.

However, earlier this week an Egyptian court upheld an administrative order to freeze the assets of five rights activists over accusations of receiving foreign funding “with the aim of destabilizing the country” following the 2011 uprising.

The decision, however, sparked an international outcry, with Amnesty International describing the move as a “shameless ploy to silence human rights activism.”