Human rights will feature significantly in the Biden administration's relationship with Egypt, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told his Egyptian counterpart on Tuesday, a week after Washington greenlit the potential sale of missiles to Cairo.

During his phone call with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, Blinken “raised concerns over human rights, which he emphasized would be central to the US-Egypt bilateral relationship,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement. 

Blinken also expressed concern over Egypt’s planned procurement of Su-35 fighter aircraft from Russia, which the Trump administration had warned put Cairo at risk of US sanctions under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA). 

President Joe Biden has pledged to hold rights-abusing countries accountable, including Egypt, where security forces have reportedly jailed tens of thousands of government critics since President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi came to power in 2013. A number of US citizens and permanent residents have been arbitrarily arrested and detained in Egypt, and last week, a coalition of human rights groups accused the Egyptian government of intimidating and harassing the family members of prominent activists living in the United States.