Democratic senator blames Egypt press crackdown on US military aid decision
0 / 33
English
中文
A top Democratic senator has blamed a crackdown on independent journalism in Egypt on a decision by the Trump administration to waive human rights conditions on US military funding to the country.
（暂无翻译）
Chris Murphy, who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, accused the US government of "abandoning" the Egyptian people after it lifted restrictions relating to more than $300m of defence assistance.
（暂无翻译）
Over the last month a series of arrests has taken place of journalists at two of the few remaining independent news outlets in Egypt, where newspapers and TV stations are closely controlled by the authorities.
（暂无翻译）
The US State Department told the BBC it waived conditions on a portion of military aid to Egypt in September due to the country's "importance to US national security interests".
（暂无翻译）
Murphy, speaking at the Middle East Institute (MEI) in Washington this week, said he was in no doubt the two were linked.
（暂无翻译）
"The minute that money was released, the crackdown began in an absolutely devastating way," he said.
（暂无翻译）
On Tuesday a court in Cairo ordered the closure of the news website Madr Masa and fined its editor-in-chief Lina Attalah in what Amnesty International called "a crushing blow to press freedom".
（暂无翻译）
Earlier this month, authorities arrested six journalists at the independent fact-checking platform Matsda2sh and charged them with belonging to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.
（暂无翻译）
The Egyptian Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.
（暂无翻译）
Egyptian journalists from fact-checking website facing terrorism charges Gaza plans put Egypt-US relations to tough test TV presenter among 12 sentenced to death in Egypt drugs case Cairo has remained a close regional ally of the US despite what human rights groups say are widespread abuses under President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's government, including torture and enforced disappearances.
（暂无翻译）
Sisi denies there are political prisoners in Egypt.
（暂无翻译）
He has previously said stability and security are paramount, adding authorities have promoted rights by trying to provide basic needs such as jobs and housing.
（暂无翻译）
US President Donald Trump at a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi Washington sends Egypt £1.3bn ($1.73bn) per year, making it one of the world's biggest recipients of US military assistance.
（暂无翻译）
US law allows up to £320m of the funding to be withheld, conditioned on Egypt meeting democracy and human rights requirements. But these restrictions can be waived by the administration on national security grounds.
（暂无翻译） （暂无翻译）
In September, Secretary of State Marco Rubio waived human rights conditions on $320m of military aid in light of Egypt's role since the launch of the US war with Iran, according to a letter addressed to various Congressional committees.
（暂无翻译）
Egypt assisted negotiations between the US and Iran.
（暂无翻译）
Exercising the waiver authority was "essential" for the US-Egypt relationship, "particularly in light of Egypt's helpful role following Operation Epic Fury," according to the September 4 memo seen by Reuters which bore Rubio's signature. Asked by the BBC about the move in light of this month's arrests of journalists, the State Department said the waiver was "due to Egypt's importance to US national security interests, the concrete security cooperation Egypt provides to the United States, and the need to maintain that cooperation to address regional security challenges".
（暂无翻译） （暂无翻译）
It added it maintained dialogue with Cairo on a "full range of issues" but would "not comment on private diplomatic conversations". Six journalists from the independent fact-checking platform Matsda2sh who were arrested in Egypt and are facing terrorism charges Rubio's move followed a similar decision by the Biden administration in 2024, when then Secretary of State Anthony Blinken waived human rights conditions to grant the full military aid allocation to Egypt as the US sought Cairo's role in mediating between Israel and Hamas in the war in Gaza.
（暂无翻译） （暂无翻译）
Under Biden prior to 2024, the US withheld portions of the annual military allocation over Egypt's human rights record.
（暂无翻译）
Murphy, who chairs a congressional committee on the Middle East and counterterrorism, said he had been a critic of both the Biden and Trump administrations over the issue.
（暂无翻译）
"To the extent that there was any glimmer left of political speech in Egypt, it is gone for one proximate reason: The United States government abandoned the people of Egypt and decided to remove all conditions on our funding," Murphy told the MEI.
（暂无翻译）
"Any hope of a true, meaningful political opposition rebirthing in Egypt has been shattered by this decision," he added.
（暂无翻译）
US military aid to Cairo began after the 1978 Camp David Accords and the peace treaty that followed between Egypt and Israel.
（暂无翻译）
Successive administrations have viewed the world's most populous Arab country as a critical US ally in the region.
（暂无翻译）
Amnesty International called the verdict against Lina Attalah 'a crushing blow to press freedom' (file photo) The group Reporters Without Borders describes Egypt, external as one of the world's biggest jailers of journalists.
（暂无翻译）
The conviction of Lina Attalah and the closure of Madr Masr marked an unprecedented escalation in repression of press freedoms in Egypt, according to Timothy E Kaldas, Deputy Director of The Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, a Washington DC-based think tank.
（暂无翻译）
He said both the US and European Union had been prioritising their strategic relations with Egypt over human rights and the rule of law in the country.
（暂无翻译）
"It's been fostering a sense of impunity on the part of the Egyptian authorities that we're seeing play out," he told the BBC. "Egypt is getting signals from both sides of the Atlantic that human rights and the rule of law are no longer a priority, and they're testing the limits of that."
（暂无翻译） （暂无翻译）
He added: "The fact that they're not getting more robust pushback reinforces the wrong message."
（暂无翻译）
仅供学习使用，如有侵权请联系删除 · 查看原文