The lead story on Egypt in the Western press this morning focuses on international criticism of a court decision freezing the assets of a number of prominent human rights groups. France 24’s coverage is typical, and the story has been picked up everywhere from The Guardian to the Associated Press. Criticism from the European Union and the UK led the Egyptian Foreign Ministry to dash off its patented “comment on rulings of an independent judiciary just isn’t cricket” statement, which the Associated Press has dutifully picked up. “[Comments by the EU and Britain] amounted to ‘flagrant’ interference in the country's affairs” the statement said. The ministry also rejected the role of unnamed “parties” — presumably Britain and the EU — that give themselves the right to judge other nations. Ahram Online, and Al Ahram each have coverage of the Foreign Ministry’s statement.

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