WASHINGTON–U.S Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near East, South Asia, Central Asia and Counterterrorism and a member of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, spoke on the U.S. Senate floor to call attention to Egypt’s extensive human rights violations and to urge the Biden administration to withhold the full $300 million in aid that Congress made contingent on significant progress toward releasing political prisoners and improving Egypt’s human rights record.
Murphy highlighted the story of his constituent, Muhammad Amasha, a PhD student at Yale University whose father is one of 60,000 political prisoners in Egypt: “Muhammad Amasha is studying at Yale University, pursuing his PhD. Meanwhile, his father Dr. Ahmed Amasha was imprisoned in Egypt from 2017 to 2019, and re-arrested and jailed again in June of 2020. According to the UN, his detention seems ‘to constitute acts of reprisals against Dr. Amasha for documenting cases of enforced disappearances for the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council of the United Nations.’ Since his arrest in 2020, Dr. Amasha reportedly has endured abuse during his interrogations that resulted in broken ribs and other injuries; his abuse included rape, electrocution, threats to rape his wife, and physical abuse while blindfolded.”
On Egypt’s failure to make “clear and consistent progress in releasing political prisoners and providing detainees with due process of law” as required by Congress in order to receive $75 million of Egypt’s $1.3 billion military aid package, Murphy said: “If you're going to be an ally of the United States, you shouldn't be locking people up for political speech. But of those 2,954 detainees, the government released 49. That's not clear and consistent progress. Another metric: since April, Egypt's terrorism courts have ordered the release of 417 prisoners. But over that same time period, at least 4,400 political prisoners have had their detentions renewed by the courts. That's not clear and consistent progress.”
On Egypt’s failure to take sustained and effective steps toward improving its human rights record as required by Congress to receive $225 million of the military aid package, Murphy said: “Congress has also tied an additional $225 million of Egypt's military aid to “sustained and effective steps” in improving Egypt’s human rights record, a broader record of human rights abuses. The statute lays out that in order to receive this money Egypt needs to allow NGOs and the media to operate freely, protect women and religious minorities, hold security forces accountable when they violate human rights, and investigate and prosecute these cases of forced disappearances. Again, the record is overwhelmingly clear that things in Egypt have gotten worse on these fronts, not better over the last year.”
Murphy pushed back on the argument that Egypt will stop cooperating with the United States if aid is withheld: “Just last year, the administration actually did withhold $130 million of Egypt’s aid. Of course, the Egyptians were angry. It probably did make our diplomats’ life a little bit harder in Egypt. But by and large, our relationship didn't change. Egyptians still cooperated with us on counterterrorism. They provided us Suez and overflight access. They again facilitated the truce in Gaza. Why? Because all of these areas in which we engage are beneficial for the Egyptians. They don't do it as simple payback for our aid. They engage with us on these issues, they engage with Israel because it's good for Egyptian security notwithstanding whether they get $1 billion or $1.3 billion from the United States.”
Murphy concluded: “The United States needs not just to talk the talk when it comes to human rights abroad. We need to be able to walk the walk as well. And the decision that the administration will make this week as to whether to comply with the conditions set forth by Congress on holding Egyptians accountable for progress on human rights is critical to American credibility globally when it comes to our call to protect human rights and democracy abroad. And for that reason, I would urge the administration to withhold the full $300 million as called for by the [FY21] Appropriations Act until Egypt’s record gets better.”
Murphy has been a vocal proponent of withholding security aid based on human rights concerns. Earlier this year, Murphy released a statement on the administration’s decision to reprogram the $130 million in security assistance that had been withheld after the Egyptian government failed to meet conditions related to improving human rights.
A full transcript of his remarks can be found below:
“Egypt is one of America’s closest allies. Our taxpayers send them more direct funding for their military than we send almost any other nation in the world. But here's what happens to political opponents of the Egyptian regime when they get arrested, and they get arrested at a dizzying rate, and get sent to the infamous Tora prison. Arrivals there are blindfolded and then are forced to run through a human corridor of guards who pummel them with sticks until they collapse. Following this initiation for political prisoners, many of them are routinely beaten and tortured for months or years on end, often with no formal charges being filed. Some never make it out alive.
“Human rights groups estimate that there are around 60,000 political prisoners in Egypt. I get it that big numbers sometimes lose their meaning in this place. But by comparison, estimates are that Russia has 420. China likely has around 1,000. Egypt locks up 60,000 political opponents of the regime. To keep up with the demands of President El-Sisi's imprisonment spree, the country has had to build 60 new detention centers over the last decade. These prisons houses some of the country's most prominent human rights defenders, journalists, opposition leaders, but also just ordinary people who are locked up for years because they just attended a protest, or they liked the Facebook post, or they recorded a TikTok video.
“Let me tell you the story of just one of these 60,000 people. Right now, one of my constituents is suffering through the pain and uncertainty of having a relative unjustly imprisoned in Egypt. Muhammad Amasha is studying at Yale University, pursuing his PhD. Meanwhile, his father Dr. Ahmed Amasha was imprisoned in Egypt from 2017 to 2019, and re-arrested and jailed again in June of 2020. According to the UN, his detention seems ‘to constitute acts of reprisals against Dr. Amasha for documenting cases of enforced disappearances for the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council of the United Nations.’ Since his arrest in 2020, Dr. Amasha reportedly has endured abuse during his interrogations that resulted in broken ribs and other injuries; his abuse included rape, electrocution, threats to rape his wife, and physical abuse while blindfolded. He was forced to sign a written confession during this time.
“Since President Sisi came to power in 2013, more than 1,000 people have died in Egyptian custody. 14% of those deaths were tortured. More than 70% are because of a denial of health care.
“This isn't an adversary of the United States. This is Egypt – our ally. And every day that we continue to send billions of dollars to the Egyptian government, while paying lip service to these egregious human rights violations, it is a blow both to our nation's character and to our credibility around the world.
“For the last several years I've fought to change our Egypt policy, and for the first time in FY21 we conditioned with no waiver $75 million of Egypt’s $1.3 billion military aid package on ‘making clear and consistent progress on releasing political prisoners and providing detainees with due process of law.’
“Because there is no waiver, the administration either has to certify that Egypt has made this progress to merit the release of the money, or they haven't made that progress and withhold the money. The record is clear that they have not. Let me just provide one way of measuring clear and consistent progress and releasing political prisoners.
“A group of Egyptian human rights organizations submitted a list of 2,954 known political prisoners to the government's presidential pardon committee earlier this year. These are people that should not be in jail, they simply protested the government. If you're going to be an ally of the United States, you shouldn't be locking people up for political speech. But of those 2,954 detainees, the government released 49. That's not clear and consistent progress.
“Another metric: since April, Egypt's terrorism courts have ordered the release of 417 prisoners. But over that same time period, at least 4,400 political prisoners have had their detentions renewed by the courts. That's not “clear and consistent progress.”
“Now, it's progress, but it’s always been one step forward, and two or three steps backwards at best. Egypt has certainly not made the kind of progress required to merit the release of $75 million.
“In addition to that piece of funding tied to political prisoners, Congress has also tied an additional $225 million of Egypt's military aid to sustained and effective steps in improving Egypt’s human rights record, a broader record of human rights abuses. The statute lays out that in order to receive this money Egypt needs to allow NGOs and the media to operate freely, protect women and religious minorities, hold security forces accountable when they violate human rights, and investigate and prosecute these cases of forced disappearances.
“Again, the record is overwhelmingly clear that things in Egypt have gotten worse on these fronts, not better over the last year. Journalists are regularly was still charged with joining a terrorist group or spreading false news or any critical reporting. Journalists are regularly charged with ‘joining a terrorist group’ or ‘spreading false news’ for any critical reporting. Just last week, four journalists from the independent outlet Mada Masr were charged [for] a single news article that documented corruption within a political party close to the president. Earlier this year, human rights lawyer Youssef Mansour was charged with ‘inciting terrorism’ after he wrote a social media post denouncing prison conditions. Egypt is also not content with imprisoning its critics at home, but increasingly its pursuing its critics abroad. News reports emerged in December that a prominent opposition leader, who lives in exile in Turkey, had his phone hacked with NSO Group software. In January, the U.S. Justice Department arrested a foreign agent here, acting on behalf of Egypt. This is not the behavior of a foreign government that made significant progress to improving human rights to merit the release of $225 million.
“Lastly, every year when we have this debate, there are always proponents who argue that even though Egypt has this horrific human rights record, we should give them the money anyway. The argument is that Egypt is a really important strategic ally, if we withhold just a portion of the $1.3 billion, Egyptians might stop cooperating with us or shop around for another partner. Let me just take a minute to address the fallacy of this argument.
“First, Egypt does provide strategic benefits to the United States. Egypt provides counterterrorism cooperation, shares intelligence with us about shared threats, access to the Suez Canal is critical for the United States. When violence does flare up in Gaza, Egypt often steps in and helps mediate and facilitate a truce through its ties with Hamas. There’s good reasons for the United States and Egypt to be partners. And it’s not crazy that we give them military aid, but we shouldn't delude ourselves into thinking that reducing our aid from $1.3 billion to $1 billion after giving Egypt the entire year to meet these common sense conditions is going to cause the sky to fall.
“Just last year, the administration actually did withhold $130 million of Egypt’s aid. Of course, the Egyptians were angry. It probably did make our diplomats’ life a little bit harder in Egypt. But by and large, our relationship didn't change. Egyptians still cooperated with us on counterterrorism. They provided us Suez and overflight access. They again facilitated the truce in Gaza. Why? Because all of these areas in which we engage are beneficial for the Egyptians. They don't do it as simple payback for our aid. They engage with us on these issues, they engage with Israel because it's good for Egyptian security notwithstanding whether they get $1 billion or $1.3 billion from the United States.
“We also sent a signal to the Egyptians by withholding some of that money last year, and while we didn’t see significant improvements, we did see some political prisoners released. This year, we have to keep the pressure up. The United States needs not just to talk the talk when it comes to human rights abroad. We need to be able to walk the walk as well. And the decision that the administration will make this week as to whether to comply with the conditions set forth by Congress on holding Egyptians accountable for progress on human rights is critical to American credibility globally when it comes to our call to protect human rights and democracy abroad. And for that reason, I would urge the administration to withhold the full $300 million as called for by the [FY21] Appropriations Act until Egypt’s record gets better.”
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