U.S. Doubles Down on Egypt’s Dictator

By
Josh Rogin & Eli Lake

Abdul Fattah el-Sisi has been trampling human rights, the rule of law and freedom of the press since he became Egypt's president two years ago. For almost as long, the international community has called on him to stop. But his critics in Washington have recently changed their tune.

Sisi said Wednesday through an official statement that the human rights situation in Egypt should not be approached from a “Western perspective,” and he warned that the “fall of nation states” in the Middle East could fuel the rise of terrorism. According to the statement, Sisi made these points to a visiting U.S. congressional delegation led by House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul.

While the delegation was meeting with Egyptian leaders, the Egyptian police were holding back dozens of journalists who were protesting recent arrests of two colleagues. They were accused of “spreading false news and endangering national security.”

The McCaul delegation was only the latest in a string of visits by prominent U.S. lawmakers to Cairo in recent weeks, part of an increased engagement between Congress and Sisi’s government that is meant to thaw the chilly relationships that followed Sisi’s military coup in 2013. During these visits, American lawmakers who had previously sought to restrict U.S. aid to Egypt told Sisi that they were now more willing to work with him and his government, despite their ongoing concerns about his treatment of his people.

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http://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-05-06/u-s-doubles-down-on-egypt-s-dictator