Kerry Says Egypt Has Much Work to Do on Road to Democracy

State Dept photo(WASHINGTON) — Before a meeting with his Egyptian counterpart, Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters Tuesday that Egypt still has much work to do as it transitions to free and fair democracy, alluding to a series of mass trials in which death sentences against hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood members were handed down simultaneously — the most recent of which occurred on Monday.

“There have been disturbing decisions within the judicial process, the court system, that have raised serious challenges for all of us. We will discuss these issues today very candidly, forthrightly,” Kerry said.

“We really are looking for certain things to happen that will give people the sense of confidence about this road ahead. It’s actions, not words, that will make the difference, and that’s really the discussion that we look forward to having this morning,” he added.

Last week as the U.S. gave Egypt 10 Apache helicopters because of its commitments towards counterterrorism, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel also told his counterpart that Egypt hadn’t made progress towards democracy.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy responded to Kerry by agreeing that judicial challenges need to be addressed, but added a caveat.

“We need to deal with the challenges that we face without disturbing the institutional relationships. The secretary mentioned some of the challenges within the judicial system. They are completely independent from the government, but of course they’re part of what Egypt is all about,” Fahmy said.

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