Egypt releases detained dissidents following Sisi meeting with US President Biden in Jeddah
Egypt releases detained dissidents following Sisi meeting with US President Biden in Jeddah
The detained dissidents' release comes after President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi met with his US counterpart Joe Biden during the president's attendance of the Jeddah Security and Development Summit, where human rights issues were reportedly brought up.
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Egypt has one of the region's worst human rights records, with thousands detained of activists, politicians and journalists, often without trial.
has reportedly released an unspecified number of detained dissident in the wake of President meeting with US President Joe Biden during on Saturday.
is believed to have raised the issue of human rights with Sisi, as well as other Arab leaders during his first Middle East trip, which concluded on Saturday.
Lawyer and House of Representatives member, Tariq el-Khouly, stated that "a group of detainees are being released from custody, as well as many more soon," on his Facebook page.
Earlier this year, the Biden administration withheld $130 million in of to Egypt over its human rights records, with the State Department saying that the country had not met the conditions to receive the millions of dollars worth of military financing that had been on hold since September 2021.
Rights groups, such as Amnesty International, have repeatedly criticised Cairo’s record on under Sisi’s governance, with calls for investigations into the country’s arbitrary detention of thousands of political prisoners.
In recent years, there have been numerous high profile cases of imprisoned dissidents in Egypt, such as that of , with protesters and rights groups rallying for their release and pressing the international community to take more action.
Dozens of British and US lawmakers urged him to discuss Egypt'sÌýÌýin talks with his Egyptian counterpart, reported AFP.
Rights groups estimate that there are 60,000 imprisoned activists in Egypt, many of whom are faced with overcrowded cells and harsh conditions, as well as being held without trial.
Biden is also said to have confronted over Saudi Arabia’s crackdown on dissidents, particularly the murder of critic and Washington Post columnist in 2018.
US Intelligence services concluded that the de facto Saudi leader directly approved of Khashoggi’s murder, however, bin Salman has denied having any role in the incident.
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