A growing chorus of lawmakers wants to know why the Trump administration says Egypt’s ex-prime minister should be immune from prosecution in a lawsuit brought by a US citizen accusing him of torture.

In a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) said he was "shocked to learn" that the State Department had “taken the grave step of attempting to immunize from accountability state-sanctioned torture” when, at the request of the Egyptian government, it certified the immunity of former interim Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi.

“I am deeply concerned about the circumstances surrounding this issuance and the impact it will have on an ongoing legal matter,” said Connolly, chair of the House subcommittee overseeing government operations, in the letter obtained by Al-Monitor.

The lawsuit in question was filed by Mohamed Soltan, a Virginia-based human rights activist who says Beblawidirected the brutal torture he endured as a political prisoner in Cairo between 2013 and 2015. Soltan is suing Beblawi in the US District Court in the District of Columbia under the Torture Victim Protection Act, a US law that makes it possible for victims of state-sponsored torture to file civil suits against the foreign officials deemed responsible.