Murphy Links Egypt Press Crackdown to US Aid Waiver
Senator argues that lifting human rights conditions on $320m in military funds allowed authorities to target independent media.
By Nikolai Patterson ·
US Senator Chris Murphy accused the Trump administration of abandoning the Egyptian people after lifting restrictions on more than $300m in defense assistance. The move came just before a surge in arrests targeting independent journalists in Cairo.
Murphy, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, spoke at the Middle East Institute in Washington this week. He stated that the timing between the release of funds and the crackdown was undeniable.
"The minute that money was released, the crackdown began in an absolutely devastating way," Murphy said.
The US State Department waived conditions on a portion of military aid to Egypt in September. A September 4 memo signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio cited the country's importance to US national security interests as the reason. The letter noted that Egypt assisted in negotiations between the US and Iran following the launch of the US war with Iran.
US law allows up to $320m of annual funding to be withheld if Egypt meets specific democracy and human rights requirements. Administrations can waive these restrictions on national security grounds. The Biden administration made a similar waiver in 2024 during the Gaza war.
Washington sends Egypt $1.73bn per year, making it one of the largest recipients of US military aid globally. This financial support began after the 1978 Camp David Accords and the subsequent peace treaty with Israel.
In the month following the waiver, authorities arrested six journalists at the independent fact-checking platform Matsda2sh. The group charged the journalists with belonging to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. On Tuesday, a court in Cairo ordered the closure of the news website Madr Masa. The court also fined editor-in-chief Lina Attalah.
Amnesty International described the closure as a crushing blow to press freedom. Timothy E Kaldas, Deputy Director of The Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, called the events an unprecedented escalation in repression. He said both the US and the EU were prioritizing strategic relations over human rights.
"It's been fostering a sense of impunity on the part of the Egyptian authorities that we're seeing play out," Kaldas told the BBC. "Egypt is getting signals from both sides of the Atlantic that human rights and the rule of law are no longer a priority, and they're testing the limits of that."
Murphy said he had criticized both the Biden and Trump administrations on this issue. He argued that the removal of funding conditions destroyed the remaining political speech in the country. "Any hope of a true, meaningful political opposition rebirthing in Egypt has been shattered by this decision," he added.
The Egyptian Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi denies the existence of political prisoners. He has stated that stability and security are paramount and that authorities have promoted rights by providing basic needs such as jobs and housing.
The State Department told the BBC that the waiver was due to Egypt's role in concrete security cooperation. The department said it maintains dialogue with Cairo on a full range of issues but would not comment on private diplomatic conversations.
