US lawmakers grapple with Egypt policy as Sisi’s clampdown continues
As President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ratchets up the rights abuses, some in Congress say the Trump administration is giving the Egyptian strongman a pass.
Human rights advocates urged Congress on Wednesday to make continued military assistance to Egypt contingent on Cairo improving its dire human rights record.
“The United States has important strategic interests in Egypt, but they do not justify looking away from this human rights disaster,” said Amy Hawthorne, deputy director of research at the Project on Middle East Democracy.
“We cannot conduct business as usual,” she told members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s subpanel on the Middle East, North Africa and International Terrorism. "At a minimum, some red lines must be drawn."
After Israel, Egypt is the second largest recipient of US military aid. The massive $1.3 billion assistance package it receives annually from the United States has continued in the face of the government’s widening assault on freedom of expression.
