Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Monday gave an interview to the BBC over the latest developments in Egypt and the Middle East as well as his country's official stance towards the Muslim Brotherhood group. Sisi stressed his country opposes any new war in the Middle East, indicating his country had no relationships with Iran. He denied any disputes between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, stressing the two countries have real partnerships, signaling his country's military alliance with the Gulf state in Yemen. Asked on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Egyptian leader said his country was not the sole player in the conflict, adding positive steps have to be taken to push forward peace talks. He added the Rafah crossing would be reopened once there was stability in the region. Sisi stressed that Egypt had never intervened in other countries' domestic affairs, urging others to follow the same footsteps, indicating he respects Turkish people' choices that brought the Justice and Development Party to power. Regarding personal and political freedoms in Egypt, Sisi said there were no human rights crises in his country, indicating presidential pardons were issued to release political prisoners, adding the protest law was a "means to regulate protesting not to repress freedoms". Asked on the MB, Sisi said the group's members are Egyptian citizens but their involvement in terror over the past two years had taken them out of the political scene, indicating "the Egyptian people are the only side to determine whether the MBs have a political role in the future". Regarding the death sentences against the now outlawed group's leading figures, Sisi said most of them were delivered in absentia, adding "they would be abolished once the fugitives handed themselves over to authorities to be retried". Earlier on Wednesday, Egypt's presidential spokesperson, Alaa Yussef said in a statement some news websites had misunderstood Sisi's statements over the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) group and death sentences against MB senior figures.
