Biden should withhold aid to Egypt, says US Senator Chris Murphy

US Senator Chris Murphy has explained to the Senate why the Biden administration should withhold aid to the Egyptian government over significant human rights abuses.

I'm heading to the Senate floor right now to explain why the Biden Administration should withhold aid to Egypt due to significant human right abuses. America needs to both talk the talk, and walk the walk, on global human rights.https://t.co/wRp8qmWNbG

— Chris Murphy 🟧 (@ChrisMurphyCT) September 12, 2022

Every year the US hands over $1.3 billion in military aid to Egypt though $300 million is conditioned on Egypt adhering to certain human rights conditions.

According to a waiver, the $300 million can be waived on national security grounds and almost every year it has been waived.

Murphy, an outspoken critic of Egypt’s treatment of political prisoners, is urging the American government to withhold the full $300 million.

READ: 2 NGOs file complaint against Egypt for crimes against humanity and against France for complicity

Last year Murphy said he was “disappointed” when the Biden administration sent a portion of security assistance to Egypt despite the congressionally-mandated human rights conditions attached to the money.

“I made the case then that we had an opportunity to stand up strongly for democracy by holding back military aid – making it clear to present and future dictators that if you violate human rights,

you will no longer receive a blank cheque from the United States of America,” the senator said in a statement in January this year.

Rights groups have, for months, been calling on US officials to withhold the portion conditioned on releasing political prisoners and allowing them due process.

In August 20 human rights organisations signed a letter to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs Jake Sullivan to say that the Egyptian government has failed “to meet the congressionally mandated human rights conditions.”

“Providing this additional military aid to Egypt in these circumstances would contradict the frequent pledges from the Biden administration to put human rights at the centre of US foreign policy,

including specifically its relationship with Egypt,” the letter went on to say.

There are roughly 60,000 political prisoners in Egypt who are regularly denied medical care and tortured systematically, sometimes to the point of death.

READ: Egypt climate champion calls for new metric on climate finance