The US Congress is pressing Egypt to improve its record in human rights and has called on the administration to make this a priority in relations with Cairo, according to a report by Middle east Newslink (MENL).
Leading members of Congress were quoted as saying Egypt's record on human rights and religious rights must be improved for Cairo to continue to obtain its annual aid of $2 billion a year. The issue has been raised with the Bush administration.
Egypt's human rights record was discussed during a hearing on Tuesday of the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs. The hearing dealt with the nominations of three US ambassadors in the Middle East.
Leading members of the committee agreed with administration officials that Egypt's record must be improved. The development came as Congress is considering a slash of $100 million in US military aid to Egypt, which is claimed to be continuing missile cooperation with North Korea.
"We continue to get a number of comments of treatment towards Coptics -- Coptic Christians -- in Egypt in my office with people contacting us," Sen. Sam Brownback, the ranking Republican in the committee, said. "This will be a topic that will be a continued focus here as well."
Sen. Paul Wellstone, a Minnesota Democrat and chairman of the subcommittee, said human rights must be a priority in US relations with Cairo. Wellstone referred to the imprisonment of an Egyptian-American sociologist and human rights activist, Saad Eddin Ibrahim. Ibrahim was sentenced to seven years for allegedly spying for the United States.
"I hope you really will put a strong emphasis on ways in which we can continue to push for the development of democracy and civil society in Egypt as really among our top priorities," Wellstone said. "I mean, this is a country that we have a close relationship to, a country we provide a lot of economic assistance to, and I think it's terribly important. And I hope you will make that a priority. I know that you will."
At the hearing, David Welch, nominee for the post of US ambassador to Cairo, said Egypt and Washington do not agree on a range of issues. Welch said Egypt is willing to discuss such disputes, which includes policy toward Libya and Sudan.
"There are issues that the United States and Egypt must discuss," Welch said. "There are cases where we do not agree. We must work more closely to resolve those disagreements when they do arise, to work out our differences of opinion, to avoid misunderstandings, and to coordinate our actions on human rights, economic development in multinational fora and in other areas."
The Congress committee debate was preceded by a media campaign assailing Egypt for the verdict against Ibrahim, and the trial of a controversial feminist, Nawal Saadawi, who is accused of insulting Islam – Albawaba.com
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