Global Courant
The House of Representatives’ top Democrats’ foreign policy panel is calling for the withholding of U.S. aid over Cairo’s human rights record.
A leading Democratic lawmaker in the United States has urged suspending hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to Egypt over human rights concerns, amid growing calls to cut aid.
Congressman Gregory Meeks, ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, made the request Friday, saying Egypt did not meet the human rights criteria lawmakers set to receive the aid.
US lawmakers had set human rights conditions at $320 million of the $1.3 billion Cairo receives annually from Washington.
But President Joe Biden’s administration waived the conditions earlier this month, saying the aid would advance US national interests. In the end, only $85 million was withheld.
“Today I requested that the State Department suspend a portion of U.S. military financing to Egypt that is conditional on human rights criteria,” Meeks said in a statement, referring to the remaining $235 million.
“Congress needs more clarity from the State Department on how concerns about the treatment of political prisoners, journalists, and the rule of law are addressed in our bilateral relationship.”
The call comes as top Democratic Senator Bob Menendez faces corruption charges over allegations that he accepted bribes to provide political favors, including advancing the Egyptian government’s interests in Washington.
Menendez, who resigned from his role as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee after the allegations, has denied wrongdoing and has pleaded not guilty. But his indictment has led to renewed demands in Congress to reassess aid to Egypt.
“It’s a devastating set of allegations, and as a committee we now have a responsibility to understand what Egypt did and what Egypt thought it was going to get,” Chris Murphy said earlier this week.
“There are serious consequences for U.S. policy toward Egypt if, as the indictment suggests, they were to attempt to use illegal means to curry favor with the committee.”
Meek’s statement Friday did not address Menendez’s allegations, but the congressman vowed to push to “ensure that human rights and national security are integral pillars.”
Rights groups have accused the government of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, which came to power in a 2013 military coup, of jailing tens of thousands of dissidents and banning virtually all forms of political opposition. Cairo has denied holding political prisoners.
Egypt launched a so-called “National Human Rights Strategy” in 2021 to improve its record, but rights groups have rejected the effort. Amnesty International, for example, called it a “shiny cover” for “incessant” abuses.
Egypt is an important American ally in the Middle East and North Africa. While Biden administration officials have made some verbal criticism of Egypt over human rights, they often praise Cairo’s mediation efforts between Israel and Palestinian groups in Gaza.
As a candidate, Biden pledged to prioritize human rights in his foreign policy and criticized his predecessor Donald Trump’s close ties with el-Sisi.
“No more blank checks for Trump’s ‘favorite dictator,’” he wrote in a social media post in 2020, referring to the Egyptian president.
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