*EPF402 07/13/00
Transcript: State Dept. Noon Briefing, Thursday, July 13, 2000
(Egypt, Colombia/drugs, Afghanistan, China) (1260)

State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher briefed.

Following is the State Department transcript:

(begin transcript)

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
(Thurmont, Maryland)

July 13, 2000

PRESS BRIEFING BY SPOKESMAN RICHARD BOUCHER

Thurmont Elementary School

MR. BOUCHER: I would just like to mention one thing in the beginning, our continuing concern about the status of the Egyptian-American scholar who is detained in Egypt. This is Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim. He continues to be detained by the Egyptian Government. From the time of his arrest, the United States Embassy has been involved in this case. Consular officers have visited Dr. Ibrahim and he has assured us that he is being treated correctly. But the Embassy continues to pursue this at the highest levels of the Egyptian Government.

Everyone knows Egypt is one of our closest allies in the Middle East but we maintain dialogues with them on many issues, including human rights and civil society. We continued this dialogue at the recent community of democracies meeting in Warsaw. As we stated before, we urge Egypt to keep in mind the declaration that they endorsed there, which calls for the right of every person to "freedom of opinion and of expression and the right to be free from arbitrary arrest and detention."

Q: Did the Egyptians sign on to the French version of that?

MR. BOUCHER: They signed on to the Community of Democracies statement.

In Dr. Ibrahim's case and in Egyptian society in general, our primary concerns are to strengthen the rule of law and to improve freedom of expression in civil society.

Q: Do you guys think that the Egyptian judiciary is independent?

MR. BOUCHER: I think we believe that Dr. Ibrahim has a right to an independent, fair trial. I think, for our characterization of the Egyptian judiciary, you'd have to look at our human rights report.

Q: You don't think Ibrahim broke the law in Egypt but view this as a human rights issue?

MR. BOUCHER: We see this as a human rights issue and we believe that freedom of expression is at stake in this case and it needs to be upheld.

Okay, other issues?

Q: What's your reaction to the Colombian decision to extradite this reputed kingpin?

MR. BOUCHER: Well, our role in this is to explain the extradition treaty and the actual information on the Garcia case has to come from the Department of Justice, so we have to leave you with them.

Provisional arrest and extradition of Colombian nationals is authorized in accordance with Article 35 of the Colombian constitution of 1991, as amended by the Extradition Reform Act, which entered into force on December 17, 1997. So the Colombian Government is authorized to extradite Colombian citizens under this case and, obviously, we value very highly our cooperation with the Colombian Government and look forward to any extraditions of people who are wanted in the United States for drug crimes.

Q: So is it safe to say you're pleased with this --

MR. BOUCHER: We're pleased to see the extradition of criminals, yes.

Q: Do you have any reaction yet on discussions with China on yesterday's --

MR. BOUCHER: Well, Secretary Cohen is in Beijing, so it is really up to him at this stage to comment on it. So I don't have any further reaction to what he might say.

Q: Is there any way you could go over what exactly is on the Secretary's schedule --

MR. BOUCHER: Not that I can announce on the record. I think some of you are aware of the dates of the ASEAN meeting, for example. And she has one or two other obligations at this stage.

Q: Will we be given a week ahead schedule as far as we --

MR. BOUCHER: Yes.

Q: Monday through Friday, TBD?

MR. BOUCHER: No. It's as good as any week ahead schedule will be, ever is. We don't always follow week ahead schedules to the letter.

Q: Did the American woman get out of Afghanistan?

MR. BOUCHER: Yeah, and we're pleased to see that. She's in Peshawar. At least we've met with her in Peshawar. She has been released by the Taliban authorities. She has also been able to confirm the release of the Afghan women employees that were also being held. She is now in Peshawar, Pakistan, with friends. Embassy in Islamabad officials have met with her. They report that she is unharmed and in good spirits. Her conditions under detention were Spartan but she was not mistreated.

We certainly welcome her release. We're glad to have her back. We hope, however, that she will soon be allowed to continue her important work in Afghanistan, if she so chooses. She's been active for years, as I mentioned, in assisting the Afghan people. Our Embassy in Islamabad and State Department officials are following this closely and Secretary Albright continues to be personally concerned and following the situation.

Q: Do we have a consulate in Peshawar?

MR. BOUCHER: Yes.

Q: Anything about China and normalized trade relations? Is she making calls this week on that, any particular senators she's reaching out to --

MR. BOUCHER: As of yesterday, she hadn't. But she has made quite a number of calls in the last week or two. I don't have a full list.

Q: Does that indicate that the Administration feels pretty confident -- problems with it --

MR. BOUCHER: No, I think it indicates that the Administration believes, continues to believe that this vote is very, very important and in our national interest and therefore the Secretary and others in the Administration are working just as hard to get its passage through the Senate as they did to get its passage through the House. She has made numerous phone calls in the last week or two.

Q: Apparently there have been G-8 foreign minister meetings going on. Is the US involved in those meetings and, if so, is there a particular goal for those meetings?

MR. BOUCHER: Yeah. Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott is out there heading the US delegation. Under Secretary Pickering has been there as well, so there is substantial US delegation participation there.

As far as goals and outcomes, I think it should be finished now, right? Do you remember the exact dates? So I think I will leave that to them.

Q: -- raise the two Koreas?

MR. BOUCHER: Being there or being discussed?

Q: No, one of the main things was they raised the two Koreas --

MR. BOUCHER: Yeah, and I've seen a couple of other wire stories that they've had things to say there at the end of the ministers' meetings. So, yes, we were very active. But how exactly we were active, I will leave to the people who were out there.

Q: Is she still going to go to that town and have they changed their mind about naming it, if she goes will they name that hall after her?

MR. BOUCHER: We don't have anything new on that right now.

Q: It seems like they had said she was still planning on going there at some point in the future?

MR. BOUCHER: Yeah, she's looking forward to traveling to Japan and, if possible, visiting the town of Miyazaki, I think it is.

Okay.

(end transcript)

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
NNNN