Defense Secretary Jim Mattis meets with Egypt’s President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi during a meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis held at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., April 5, 2017. (DOD photo by U.S. Army Sgt. Amber I. Smith)
By Gary Raynaldo DIPLOMATIC TIMES
Democratic lawmakers in Congress sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken Wednesday urging the Administration to withhold some $300 million in military assistance to Egypt pending on the country improving its human rights record. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Gregory W. Meeks (D-NY), together with Representatives Gerald Connolly (D-VA), President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, David Cicilline (D-RI), Tom Malinowski (D-NJ), Vice Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Sara Jacobs (D-CA) wrote the letter calling on the Biden administration to stand by “important statutory human rights criteria” and not release a portion of U.S. assistance if Egypt fails to fully meet requirements outlined in the annual Appropriations bill.
Reports of Unlawful/Arbitrary Killings, Torture, Censorship in Egypt
The lawmakers wrote that the State Department’s own 2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices in Egypt documented “significant human rights issues” such as “unlawful or arbitrary killings,” “forced disappearance by state security; torture and cases of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by the government; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary detention,” and “serious restrictions on free expression and media, including arrests or prosecutions of journalists, censorship, site blocking, and the abuse of criminal libel laws”.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Gregory W. Meeks (D-NY)
The lawmakers charged that Egypt also continues to detain tens of thousands of political prisoners, many without charge, in inhumane conditions branding them as “enemies of the state” for even the mildest criticisms, exercise of free expression, and civil society activity.
“We write to express our concerns over the State Department providing the $300 million conditioned on human rights in Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 Foreign Military Financing (FMF) to Egypt in Sec. 7041(a)(3) of the FY21 Consolidated Appropriations Act (PL 116-260). Tens of thousands of Egyptians, including journalists, political opponents, and human rights defenders, remain imprisoned on politically motivated charges, with many of them subject to abuse and mistreatment such as torture and medical neglect. Therefore, as the Department weighs whether to grant Egypt the $300 million in FY21 FMF or to withhold such funds from obligation, we call on you not to certify that Egypt has taken “sustained and effective steps” to implement the criteria as required by law. These criteria, among others, require Egypt to take demonstrable steps to: “(ii) implement reforms that protect freedoms of expression, association, and peaceful assembly, including the ability of civil society
organizations, human rights defenders, and the media to function without interference; (iii) hold security forces accountable, including officers credibly alleged to have violated human rights; (iv) investigate and prosecute cases of extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances; and as defined in Sec. 7041(a)(3)(C) of P.L. 116-260, releasing political prisoners and providing detainees with due process of law.”
-Democratic lawmakers’ letter to President Biden administration
