US withdraws military assistance to Egypt over human rights

The government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi is holding political prisoners, and Senator Ben Cardin has called for their release.

According to a statement he made on Tuesday, Ben Cardin, the new head of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has stopped about $235 million in military aid to Egypt.

He took the place of Bob Menendez, who was himself charged with participating in a plot to pay off Egyptian government officials. Menendez is currently the subject of a corruption investigation, though he has refuted the allegations.

Cardin informed Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, that the financial freeze “will persist until specific progress on human rights is made.”

According to Cardin, “the stability of Egypt is in the national interest of the United States, and that interest is best served when the Egyptian government is taking sustainable, concrete, and significant steps to improve respect for its citizens’ human rights.” He stated that in his opinion, it is vital for the US to keep holding the Egyptian government and all other governments responsible for their violations of human rights.

Cardin, a Democratic Party member of President Joe Biden, specifically asked for more pardons for some of the 60,000+ political prisoners in Egypt.

The State Department this month approved $1.215 billion in military aid to Egypt despite continuing worries about violations of human rights.

Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, the president of Egypt, has declared his desire to run in the upcoming election. He will serve a third term in office if he prevails.

Political analyst Said Sadek said the US “isn’t really taken seriously” when he spoke to RT on Wednesday. “When it comes to the Arab countries, they [the US] want to cut aid, they want to impose sanctions, and they don’t want to export arms,” he continued.

The expert claimed that the US has strategic interests in Egypt because “a lot of Red Sea and Gulf security happens in coordination between the Egyptian Navy and the American Navy.” Additionally, he stated that Washington “fears that if they [do] a total divorce with Egypt, it would push Egypt more towards China and Russia.”