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Written testimony of Kathryn Cameron Porter, submitted for the record to the Committee on Foriegn Affairs, Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight hearing, "Ideals vs Reality in Human Rights and U.S. Foreign Policy: Cases of Azerbaijan, Cuba and Egypt
July 12, 2007
Subcommittee Chairman Delahunt, thank you for the opportunity to submit this statement for the record.
Whitewashing human rights abuses to protect our allies from criticism should never be regarded as a legitimate component of foreign policy. Yet that is exactly what is happening with respect to U.S. foreign policy in Egypt. We have witnessed attempts by the U.S. government to deliberately obfuscate the truth about human rights in Egypt, and this course of action can lead to no positive end. All that is accomplished by such ill-conceived efforts is propping up the government of Hosni Mubarak and ensuring that U.S. hypocrisy is acutely felt by the many Egyptians who suffer under his rule. Not only is the U.S. made complicit in Mubarak’s rights violations by looking the other way, U.S. government officials have actually rewritten the facts to cast a more favorable light on an ugly regime.
The U.S. Ambassador to Egypt, Francis Ricciardone, has repeatedly offered statements about Egypt’s human rights situation that do not reflect the reality on the ground. His remarks have painted “a chillingly sunny picture of Hosni Mubarak’s government,” the New York Times recently reported. A New York Sun editorial, “Recall Ricciardone,” published May 3, cited the Ambassador’s comment in a television interview that Egyptians enjoy freedom of speech, an absurd claim in light of ongoing crackdowns by the Egyptian state security apparatus, which Mubarak uses to muzzle democracy activists, religious minorities, and political opposition parties, to name a few targeted groups.
A July 10 Wall Street Journal editorial by Bret Stephens, “Public Diplomacy for Dummies,” highlights other notable statements made by the Ambassador. Stephens writes:
In interviews with the Egyptian media, Mr. Ricciardone has said that American officials have "no right to comment" on the case of Ayman Nour, the former opposition leader imprisoned on trumped-up charges; that faith in Egypt's judiciary is "well-placed," and that president Hosni Mubarak -- now in his 26th year in office -- "is loved in the U.S." and "could win elections [in America] as a leader who is a giant on the world stage."
Ambassador Ricciardone is not the only one guilty of perpetuating Mubarak’s impunity by peddling distortions, half-truths and outright falsehoods. The current administration is also to blame. Members of the executive branch tout their democracy promotion agenda, then wink and nod as Mubarak gives his latest excuse for delaying democratic reforms in Egypt: the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood. In the administration’s most recent overture, Vice President Cheney in a meeting this week with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit “indicated that the U.S. administration is against setting any preconditions [on military aid to Egypt] and promised to work with Congress to resolve the situation in the upcoming legislative process,” according to a press release on the Foreign Affairs for Egypt website.
The conditioning of $200,000,000 military aid based on Egypt protecting the independence of the judiciary, curbing police abuses and destroying smuggling tunnels to Gaza, is a small but symbolic gesture. This is a tangible way for Members of Congress to show Mubarak that the U.S. is serious about making human rights a central tenant of its foreign policy. While Vice President Cheney works to “resolve the situation” for his friends in the Egyptian government, the Congress must not be fooled by such rhetoric. Now is the time to send an unequivocal message to Mubarak that the human rights double standard for Egypt has ended. Now is the time to demand that all U.S. officials, including the President, members of his administration, and the Ambassador to Egypt speak the truth about human rights. If not, the suffering of the Egyptian people – and their seething resentment about two-faced U.S. foreign policy – will continue to grow, further destabilizing the Middle East.
Their grievances are myriad. Everyday indignities plague the vast majority of Egyptians, and especially the nation’s minorities. The Coptic Christians, Egypt’s largest ethno-religious minority, are restricted from worshipping freely and face ongoing discrimination and harassment by the Egyptian government. For those who convert to Christianity, they either go into hiding or risk death. Forced conversion of Coptic girls to Islam is aided and abetted by agents of the state. Women are in danger of acid attacks for wearing crosses and not veiling, and churchgoers are targeted for stabbings, simply because of their faith. Historically, the Egyptian government has done nothing to protect them. The Bahá’ís are not even recognized as a legitimate faith group; as a result, they are unable to obtain national identification cards needed to access basic citizenship rights, including employment, education, medical and financial services, freedom of movement and security of property. Bedouins, too, have been marginalized by the government and pushed to the edges of society. Egypt’s youth, while not technically a minority, are precluded from a viable future by the corruption of the Egyptian government, which feathers the nest of its own and ignores those not part of the elite.
Advocates of political reform are perhaps the government’s favorite target. Consider the cases of Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim and Ayman Nour. Dr. Ibrahim, imprisoned on false charges in 2000 and later released and acquitted following the international outcry of the human rights community, has again been singled out for harassment for his civil society activism as founder and director of the Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies. Reports indicate that Dr. Ibrahim may face charges of treason on the grounds of dealing with foreign powers to harm the interests of Egypt. A smear campaign is ongoing in government-owned media outlets, which have labeled the Ibn Khaldun Center the “Son of Zion” Center.
Meanwhile, Nour, who ran against Mubarak in the country’s first “open” presidential election, remains in a Cairo jail more than two years after his wrongful imprisonment. His wife, Gameela Ismail, has repeatedly begged for his release due to his failing health. Her pleas and those of the international community fall on the deaf ears of a callous regime.
In June, President Bush referenced Nour at a conference of dissidents in the Czech Republic. Naming him along with others who have been unjustly jailed, he called for the individuals’ immediate and unconditional release. He added, “I have asked Secretary Rice to send a directive to every U.S. Ambassador in an un-free nation: Seek out and meet with activists for democracy. Seek out those who demand human rights.”
The President’s statement does not go far enough to chasten the Mubarak regime, and as of today Ayman Nour – not to mention countless other innocent Egyptians – has not been released from the jail sentence which may well turn out to be his death sentence. The Egyptian government will not take U.S. concerns about human rights seriously unless words are matched by actions. If the U.S. shows by its actions that it is not serious about human rights, it is not serious about sound foreign policy.
The U.S. House of Representatives is the people’s house. If the American people stand in solidarity with the Egyptian people to demand improvement in basic human rights and rule of law, we can at the very least create hope at a time when there is only a dying light of freedom.
The Leadership Council for Human Rights
444 North Capitol Street NW, Suite 841
Washington, DC, 20001
202-638-0066
www.leadership-council.org
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