Egypt opposition to US: Sisi has done worse than the murder of Khashoggi

Some 41 Egyptian opposition figures on Monday called on the Biden administration to take action against the Egyptian regime, saying it had committed “crimes that are worse than the [Jamal] Khashoggi murder.”

Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, 59, was killed inside his country’s consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, on 2 October 2018. In a report released on Friday, US security agencies said the Crown Prince of Saudi, and the kingdom’s de facto ruler, Mohammed Bin Salman, “approved” and almost certainly ordered the murder. The US went on to impose sanctions on those it said were behind the murder, but fell short of reprimanding the crown prince.

Sisi Era – Cartoon [Carlos Latuff/MiddleEastMonitor]

The oppositionists cited some of what they described as “the crimes of the Egyptian regime”, alleging that “among these crimes were the military coup against the elected president in 2013, committing genocide against thousands of Egyptians which have been documented by international human rights organizations.”

Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi took office in 2014, following his victory in the first presidential elections after the overthrow of late President Mohamed Morsi in the summer of 2013 when the former was minister of defence.

The statement said: “This comes on top of tens of thousands of murders, torture, enforced disappearances, and executing death sentences issued in trials that did not meet the conditions for a fair trial.”

The Egyptian opposition asked: “Does the US Democratic administration led by Joe Biden have the power to set the record straight and respect principles of justice and American values?”

Signatories to the statement included MPs, former judges, and media personalities, namely Walid Sharabi, Ahmed Hassan Al-Sharqawi, Amr Abd El-Hadi, Wajdi Al-Arabi, Mukhtar Al-Ashry, Sumaya Al-Janayni, Israa Al-Hakim, and Izzat Al-Nimr.

OPINION: There is a human rights dilemma in the US-Saudi relationship