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Egyptian-Americans launch human rights push ahead of Sisi re-election

Trump helped free NGO worker Aya Hijazi from prison. Now she’s leading the charge against his Egypt policy.
Aya Hijazi, an Egyptian-American woman detained in Egypt for nearly three years on human trafficking charges, meets with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, U.S., April 21, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque - RC15FBA0C5D0
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President Donald Trump relished showing off his deal-making skills when he hosted Aya Hijazi at the White House last year after convincing Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to release the Egyptian-American NGO worker and her husband.

Now Hijazi and other Egyptian-American activists are hoping to use that bond to convince the US president to rethink his unstinting support for Cairo. To that end, they’ve launched a campaign to draw attention to the country’s dismal human rights situation on Capitol Hill and at the State Department ahead of this month’s presidential election.

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