Sisi: Egypt is safe, does not violate human rights

Egypt's president has brushed off criticism that his government has committed human rights violations, calling the accusations "twisting of the truth".

Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said during an interview with CNN released on Friday that his country has been misunderstood in the West and that the threat of "terrorism" has prompted strict security measures.

"There must be tough security measures. You guys isolate that and you deal with it from a human rights perspective only," Sisi said, speaking through a translator.

"We are responsible for the Egyptian people, whom I consider my own family. How could I be comfortable knowing that there could be a human rights violation against these people."

He added that claims that security forces forcibly disappear opponents to quash dissent were "a twisting of reality".

Rights groups accuse Sisi of running an ultra-authoritarian and repressive regime since he deposed his democratically elected Islamist predecessor Mohammad Morsi in 2013.

	During the sit down in New York, Sisi touched on "terrorism" [CNN]

During the sit down in New York, Sisi also offered his thoughts on terrorism.

"I have a major reservation to confining the term terrorism to Daesh only. Terrorist and extremists are not only Daesh," he said using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic state group [IS].

He defined "terrorists" as "those who use terrorism, violence, destruction and killing to accomplish their goals."

The former army chief came to power after toppling the Muslim Brotherhood's Morsi, unleashing a harsh crackdown on his supporters that killed hundreds of protesters and imprisoned thousands.

In 2013, a Cairo court declared the Muslim Brotherhood a "terrorist" organisation, banning all its activities and imprisoning many of its leaders.

Sisi also called on tourists to visit the country, saying: "We would never invite tourists or anyone else to visit us in Egypt if there was any danger to their lives whether during the flights to Egypt or during the time they spend in Egypt."

Egypt's tourism industry has been hit hard by years of unrest following the 2011 popular uprising that ousted longtime dictator Hosni Mubarak.

The bombing of a Russian jet flying from Egypt last October and another aviation disaster in May this year, when an Airbus A320 flying from Paris to Cairo went down in the Mediterranean have dealt further crushing blows to dwindling tourism revenue.