The top Democrat on the Senate’s powerful spending panel is holding up $300 million in US military aid to Egypt until Cairo helps pay for an injured American tourist’s medical bills and meets several human rights conditions, Al-Monitor has learned.
Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., a persistent critic of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s government, has shared several conditions with the State Department for the aid to be released, his office confirmed. These include providing compensation for April Corley, a US citizen who was grievously injured when Egyptian forces mistakenly bombed a group of tourists in Egypt’s western desert in 2015. The strike killed eight Mexican nationals and four Egyptians.