Hungarian FM Szijjártó voices shock at UN official’s ‘defending terrorist’

Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, in a letter to United Nations Special Rapporteur Fionnuala Ni Aolain, expressed “astonishment and shock” over her “defence of a terrorist”.

Szijjártó said it was “shocking” that the rapporteur had played the role of “defence lawyer for a terrorist who led an attack against Hungarian police who were protecting Hungary’s borders”.

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, Szijjártó asked whether it was “normal to cross the border shouting into a loudhailer, inciting an attack and throwing rocks at border police”.