Hāzim 'Abd al-Rahman called what happened in Qena a' thuggery' which has to be dealt with strictly.

He called the perpetrators 'terrorists' who took away the power from the state by taking the justice into their own hands.

Salafist extremists had applied hadd on a citizen in Qena by cutting off his ear, burning his car and apartment, after accusing him of adultery with a girl of bad reputation who rented an apartment from him [Read full story.]

He criticized the reconciliation which had been arranged between the victim and the perpetrator, saying that even if the victim had accepted this by force, the state should not accept anything like that.

He wonders how the country can give up its right in being the only power of capturing, accusing, and putting criminals to trial and execute verdicts against them.