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, on Wednesday released the following statement on the Biden administration’s decision to send U.S. aid to Egypt despite human rights conditions that Congress placed on the security assistance:
“I disagree with the Administration’s decision not to withhold all the aid conditioned by Congress. There is no way Egypt has made clear and consistent progress on releasing political detainees. Out of some 60,000 political prisoners, less than 1 percent have been released over the last year. During that same time period, 10 times as many prisoners had their detentions renewed. Today’s decision to hold some but not all conditioned aid was a missed opportunity to stand up for human rights,” said Murphy.
Earlier this week, Murphy took to 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.
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