US to reprogram military aid to Egypt over rights record, lawmakers say
A spokesperson for the House Foreign Affairs Committee told Al-Monitor that the State Department will reprogram the aid.
The Biden administration will reprogram a portion of Egypt’s annual military assistance held up over human rights concerns, congressional sources said Friday.
"We can confirm the State Department will be reprogramming $130 million of [foreign military financing] tied to certain human rights criteria as outlined last year that have not been fully met by Egypt," a spokesperson for the House Foreign Affairs Committee told Al-Monitor.
The State Department said in September it would freeze $130 million in foreign military financing to Egypt unless the North African country adhered to certain rights-related criteria by the administration’s deadline of Jan. 30. Those conditions, which were not made public, required Egypt to release or drop charges against a number of activists, as well as end a decade-long investigation into civil society groups.
Egypt has released some, but not all, of the prisoners singled out by the administration, and has not closed the sweeping investigation known as Case 173.
