Biden Administration Releases Military Aid to Egypt Despite Human Rights Concerns

In response to the Biden administration’s decision on Wednesday to release the full tranche of Foreign Military Financing (FMF) to Egypt despite ongoing human rights violations, Security Assistance Monitor (SAM) director Ari Tolany issued the following statement:

“The Biden administration’s decision to grant Egypt a staggering $1.3 billion in military aid with no human rights restrictions undermines the administration’s own human rights reporting, which found there has been ‘no significant change in the human rights situation in Egypt,’ and defies concerns rightly expressed by Senators Chris Van Hollen, Chris Murphy and their colleagues.

“Consistent gross violations of human rights remain widespread, including extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearance, and torture. The government’s broad refusal to investigate or prosecute reported human rights abuses makes remediation for victims impossible.

“Secretary Blinken reports that he is waiving the human rights conditions in the ‘national security interest,’ but using unrestricted taxpayer dollars to subsidize the brutal, autocratic el-Sisi regime doesn’t make Americans—or the world—safer. U.S. appeals to international order will continue ring hollow so long as the United States refuses to hold its allies, not just its rivals, accountable for violations of international law.”

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