Democratic senator blames Egypt press crackdown on US military aid decision

A top Democratic senator has blamed a crackdown on independent journalism in Egypt on a decision by the Trump administration to waive human rights conditions on US military funding to the country.

Chris Murphy, who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, accused the US government of “abandoning” the Egyptian people after it lifted restrictions relating to more than $300m of defence assistance.

Over the last month a series of arrests has taken place of journalists at two of the few remaining independent news outlets in Egypt, where newspapers and TV stations are closely controlled by the authorities.

The US State Department told the BBC it waived conditions on a portion of military aid to Egypt in September due to the country’s “importance to US national security interests”.

Murphy, speaking at the Middle East Institute (MEI) in Washington this week, said he was in no doubt the two were linked.

“The minute that money was released, the crackdown began in an absolutely devastating way,” he said.

On Tuesday a court in Cairo ordered the closure of the news website Madr Masa and fined its editor-in-chief Lina Attalah in what Amnesty International called “a crushing blow to press freedom”.

Earlier this month, authorities arrested six journalists at the independent fact-checking platform Matsda2sh and charged them with belonging to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

The Egyptian Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.