US President Joe Biden met today, Friday, in Sharm El-Sheikh, with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, on the sidelines of the climate conference, and discussed with him files, including the human rights situation in Egypt, amid Western pressure on Cairo to release the detained activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah.
Al-Sisi told Biden that his country had launched a human rights strategy and had a presidential pardon committee to consider the lists worthy of release, saying that Egypt had also launched an initiative for national dialogue, according to Reuters news agency.
For his part, Biden praised Egypt, and said that it spoke strongly about the war in Ukraine, adding that Cairo is a major mediator in Gaza, according to the same agency.
And US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said at a press conference at the White House on Thursday evening that Biden would raise the issue of human rights during his meeting with Sisi.
Sullivan expressed his country's concern about the case of Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, calling for his release.
The US National Security Adviser stated that President Biden will also discuss with his Egyptian counterpart a number of important bilateral and regional issues, according to what the White House published on its website.
After participating in the Sharm El-Sheikh Climate Conference as part of his first visit to Egypt since taking office, the US president will head to Indonesia to attend the G-20 summit being held on the island of Bali, where he is scheduled to meet with a number of leaders of member states, including Chinese President Xi Jinping.
In the past few days, the case of the arrested Egyptian activist, Alaa Abdel-Fattah, came to the fore, and Britain granted him its citizenship, after he escalated a hunger strike that he started seven months ago on Sunday.
Abdel-Fattah, 40, who was sentenced to 5 years in prison at the end of 2021, was imprisoned during the tenure of all presidents during the last ten years.
Last September, the US State Department said that Egypt is a strategic partner of the United States, and that Washington cooperates with it in a range of interests, but indicated that it presents to Egyptian officials what it described as deep concern about human rights issues.