A month after Biden’s presidency, how did Cairo deal with American human rights demands?

Caution and anticipation, perhaps these are the most prominent features of the Egyptian position in relations with the United States of America after the first month of the new president, Joe Biden. After the media storms subsided in Cairo, commenting on the arrival of the new president and the departure of his predecessor, Donald Trump, Cairo is now seeing its steps in drawing the boundaries of the relationship with US administration moved with the electoral declarations to political realism.

At a time when the Badin administration expresses its concerns about the human rights file in Egypt, the US State Department announces an arms deal worth about $ 200 million to the Egyptian regime in the first arms sale to the Middle East countries, which raises questions about Washington’s seriousness in developing a new policy with Cairo.

The US State Department says that its approval of arms sales to Cairo does not hinder Washington's ability to continue focusing on its human rights record, and the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) has said that the arms deal supports the foreign policy and national security of the United States by improving Egypt's security.

Commenting on a phone call he had with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said on Twitter, "I spoke today with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, our common security interests must be in line with respect for democracy and human rights, including a strong civil society."

Spoke today with Egypt Foreign Minister Shoukry.

Our shared security interests must align with respect for democracy and human rights, including the importance of a strong civil society.

I look forward to strengthening our historic partnership.

- Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) February 23, 2021

Continuation of the policy of repression

The announcement of the arms deal did not prevent the Egyptian authorities from arresting relatives of Egyptian-American activist Muhammad Sultan in Egypt.

US State Department spokesman Ned Price commented on the news of the arrests, saying, "We will not tolerate attacks or threats by foreign governments against American citizens or their family members. Such behavior is inconsistent with our values ​​and interests, and greatly undermines our bilateral partnerships around the world."

Price added that the arms deal to Egypt is just "a routine renewal of defensive weapons, which in no way prevents us from continuing to support our focus on democracy and human rights."

The matter was not limited to Sultan's relatives, according to a Human Rights Watch report issued on February 19, as the Egyptian authorities recently arrested family members of 4 dissidents living in the United States, Turkey, Germany and the United Kingdom.

During the last month, the Egyptian authorities arrested the researcher, Ahmed Samir, who studies at the Central European University in Austria, charged him with joining a terrorist group with knowledge of its objectives, and deliberately spreading false news and data.

Since Biden was announced as president, the Egyptian government has shown only slow steps in releasing the detainees, the most prominent of whom is Al-Jazeera journalist Mahmoud Hussein, whose release came in accordance with precautionary measures and after 4 years of pretrial detention without trial.

In his article in the Washington Post, writer David Ignatius believes that the Biden administration is striving to reconcile two inescapable facts about Egypt, the first of which is that Egypt is an important friend and ally of America, and the second is that it has an oppressive government that violates basic human rights.

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In a related context, news reports talked about the Egyptian ambassador in Washington contracting with an American public relations company (lobby) to improve the image of the Egyptian government with the new American administration, immediately after Trump's loss was announced, and the company includes US deputies and former officials from the Democratic and Republican parties, and cost Cairo Per month, 65 thousand dollars.

The cosmetic attempts are concerned about expected pressure from the Biden administration on Cairo, given the previous disturbing positions for the new president and his team regarding the human rights file.

In a rare precedent, some might see it as a hint of a change in Cairo's policy towards the opposition, the Egyptian President spoke of accepting a conditional opposition according to his own vision during his inauguration of some projects in Ismailia Governorate this February.

Al-Sisi demanded that the opposition understand and study what he says, and that the goal is not the opposition only for the sake of the opposition, and the expression of opinion must be aimed at improving people's conditions and lives.

Does Cairo change its policy?

The lawyer, former spokesman for the Freedoms Committee of the Bar Association, Asaad Haykal, does not expect that a major change will occur in Egypt's policy, as he said in previous statements to Al-Jazeera that Cairo is waiting for the Biden administration's position on the Muslim Brotherhood, and thus determines its position on Washington, adding that he does not believe For Cairo to submit to Washington as it did not before the Obama administration, according to his description.

On the other hand, journalist Gamal Sultan confirmed that Sisi had enjoyed Trump's support for 4 years, which encouraged a significant increase in human rights violations in Egypt that had not happened in any presidential era before.

Speaking to Al-Jazeera, Gamal Sultan explained that the scale of human rights violations in Egypt is so great that Biden cannot ignore it, which represents political and moral pressure on his administration in its dealings with Cairo.

In turn, the Egyptian academic writer Ezz El-Din Shukry Fasher says that if fear and power blind the military leaders in Egypt, the vision of those who support them should be clearer.

In an article in the American Washington Post, Fasher said, "Is it an exaggeration to expect the United States, France, Germany and the Emirates - which are the countries that provide the military in Egypt with money, weapons and political support - to offer them some advice as well ?!"