CAIRO/WASHINGTON, 16 August — Egypt yesterday shrugged off US pressure over its jailing of an Egyptian-American activist as Washington said it would halt new aid to Cairo.
The Washington Post reported yesterday that the United States would oppose giving any new aid to Egypt in protest at the imprisonment of Saadeddin Ibrahim, convicted in July after a retrial on charges including defaming Egypt.
US officials, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said Bush had decided against seeking new money for Egypt because Cairo had not responded to Washington’s concerns about Ibrahim’s trial and sentencing.
“We are not in a position to (look at new aid) at this point because of the lack of a response from Egypt in the Ibrahim case,” one senior official said.
“It’s impossible to look at new and additional funds with the Ibrahim case in the state that it is in now,” a second official said.
Both confirmed reports in yesterday’s Washington Post and Chicago Tribune that said Bush would soon notify Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak of his decision in writing.
The decision will not affect existing aid programs to Egypt — amounting to nearly $2 billion a year, the officials said.
The Bush administration has also ordered a review of US democracy-building projects in Egypt, according to the Post.
In Cairo, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher told reporters: “Egypt does not accept pressure and will not bow to pressure and everyone knows that.”
Maher said any attempt to apply pressure to the Egyptian government would have no effect. He said all other states should respect the Egyptian judicial system and its rulings “as we respect their justice systems”.
Ibrahim, an academic who ran a now-closed Cairo center for promoting democracy and civil rights, was convicted by a state security court on charges which also included illegally accepting funds from the European Commission to monitor elections.
Ibrahim, who suffers from a neurological disorder, was sentenced to seven years in jail. Ibrahim’s wife has said he intends to appeal against the court’s decision when it releases the details of the ruling, expected around the end of August.
Ibrahim, as well as 27 co-defendants, faced the same charges as in the previous trial. They had been charged with tarnishing Egypt’s image by spreading false information abroad about supposed electoral frauds as well as receiving, without official approval, funding from the European Union to finance the activities of the Ibn Khaldun Center, which Ibrahim directed.
The official Middle Eastern News Agency said yesterday the US administration should pay attention to the rampant human rights violations in Palestine, Afghanistan, Congo and elsewhere.
Blatant human rights violations are being perpetrated by Israel in the occupied territories which go unnoticed by the US.
Egypt does not need lessons about how to protect human rights, particularly from those who keep quiet over the massacres of innocent Palestinians and similar violations elsewhere. It also does not need advice from those who plan to launch military action against an unarmed people such as Iraqis on the pretext of relieving them from an oppressive regime, the agency said.
