Freed Egyptian American hunger striker urges US aid reform
Date
11/4/2015 6:42:32 AM
(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) The U.S. should withhold its military support for the Egyptian government until the country’s rights environment is improved according to a freed Egyptian-American hunger striker.
Mohamed Soltan said that not only is the Egyptian government continuing its repressive policies it “continues to escalate its repression in an unprecedented way and that is because it is not facing any real consequences for its escalation and its repressions.”
Soltan’s remarks came during testimony before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission – focused on advocating for human rights around the globe.
A former Rabaa spokesman Soltan was sentenced to life imprisonment in May by an Egyptian court. Shortly thereafter he was released and sent back to his home in the United States following a hunger strike that lasted more than 400 days.
Soltan who described his hunger protest as “an outlet to resist both oppression and radicalization” called on lawmakers to ramp up pressure on Cairo by supporting legislation that would require Cairo to release all political prisoners in Egypt in order to receive funding.
“Me standing here before you today … I am living proof that we have leverage and we could use it” he said.
Washington reinstated its $1.3 billion annual military aid to its Arab ally in April amid concerns that extremists were making inroads in Egypt as Moscow courted Cairo as a potential U.S. replacement.
The U.S. in October halted parts of its financing.
The resumed aid has come under scrutiny for potentially running afoul of domestic requirements that prevent the State and Defense departments from providing military assistance to foreign security services that violate human rights.
Speaking prior to Soltan assistant secretary of state for human rights Tom Malinowski said the domestic law known as the Leahy Law “doesn’t merely enable us it requires us to suspend assistance to any unit of a foreign security force including in Egypt”.
“In the case of Egypt we are implementing it and it has had a significant impact on our ability to provide assistance to some parts of the security apparatus in Egypt particularly the police and the Interior Ministry” he said.
Still critics have maintained that Washington should end its military aid altogether citing continued concerns over Egypt’s rights record.
“We should focus on using our leverage more effectively to persuade President al-Sisi to reverse course” Daniel Calingaert Freedom House’s executive vice president said during Tuesday’s hearing.
“Conditions on aid have become for the most part an empty threat. Congress should make these conditions credible” he said.
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