Blinken seeks detainee progress, but releases are Egypt’s ‘prerogative’
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Al-Monitor he raised the cases of individual political prisoners during his two-day visit to Cairo, which included a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
CAIRO — US Secretary of State Antony Blinken used a visit to Cairo on Monday to raise with Egyptian officials the cases of prominent political prisoners and push for “concrete progress” on human rights.
“With regard to human rights individual cases, I have raised in the past and again, raised today, individual [cases]. That's important. So too though is progress on systemic change," Blinken said during a press conference alongside Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry.
Prior to his meeting with Shoukry, Blinken met for more than an hour with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi at the presidential palace on Monday.
Under Sisi's watch, Egypt is believed to have jailed tens of thousands of perceived government critics on charges rights groups say are baseless. They include prominent activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, human rights lawyer Mohamed El-Baqer and blogger Mohamed “Oxygen” Ibrahim.
