In a letter to United Nations Special Rapporteur Fionnuala Ni Aolain, the foreign minister has expressed “astonishment and shock” over her “defense of a terrorist”.
Péter Szijjártó said it was “shocking” that the rapporteur had played the role of “defense lawyer for a terrorist who led an attack against Hungarian police who were protecting Hungary’s borders”.
Minister Szijjártó wrote in response to a letter in which Ni Aolain had said that Hungary had harmed the rights of Ahmed H, a Syrian national sentenced in Hungary on terrorism charges after a migrant riot at Hungary’s southern borders in 2015.
She criticised both Hungary’s laws and the proceedings, saying the defendant was not a terrorist and his human rights had been violated.
In his response, Minister Szijjártó asked whether it was “normal to cross the border shouting into a loudhailer, inciting an attack and throwing rocks at border police”. He also asked if she “really means to launch a procedure against a country protecting its borders and the security of its citizens over the sentencing of a terrorist“.
“It is shameful that you spend members’ payments, including funds from Hungary’s taxpayers, to encourage terrorists to violate the borders of sovereign countries and to attack the police,” Minister Szijjártó wrote.