Egypt Watch

9 senators call on Egypt to respect human rights

Nine members of Congress, including Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar and Alexandra Suarez sent a letter to Egypt’s Ambassador to Washington Yasser Reda, expressing concern for them about human rights violations in Egypt, calling for an end to violations such as extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearance, torture and detention Arbitrary and harsh conditions of confinement. Members of Congress called on the Egyptian regime to take measures to protect many detained and human rights activists, such as political activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah, lawyer Mahinour Al-Masry, director of the Adalah Center for Human Rights, Muhammad al-Baqir, human rights activist Patrick George Zaki, and coordinator of the Israel Boycott Movement in Egypt Rami Shaath, in addition to the American citizens Reem Desouki and Khaled Hassan.

Members of Congress called on the Egyptian government to abide by the provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that Egypt has adopted since the year 1948, and they affirmed they have continued follow-up to the human rights situation in Egypt and taking it into account while discussing the continuation of American aid to Egypt in the future. Last November, the United Nations Human Rights Council made 372 recommendations on the human rights situation in Egypt, the most prominent of which was stopping torture in prisons, guaranteeing the rights of human rights defenders, protecting journalists, and excluding military court rulings.