Washington, DC — In a letter to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, President George Bush has said he will oppose any new aid to Egypt to protest the imrisonement of human rights activists Saad Eddin Ibrahim. The 63-year sociology professor at the American University in Cairo was convicted last mointh on charges of embezzlement, receiving foreign funds without authorization and tarnishing Egypt's name. he was sentenced to serve a 7-year prison term.
Local and international human rights groups have charged that the prosecution of Ibrahim is part of an effort to silence rights activists.
Bush's letter to Mubarak will not affect the nearly $2 billion in economic and military assistance the United States provides to Egypt annually.And as of Thursday no new assistance for Egypt beyond this sum had been announced.
State Department spokesperson Phillip Reeker was asked about the case and the U.S. response to it at Thursday's press briefing.
We met in Cairo with senior Egyptian officials to convey our continuing concern regarding the verdict in that case and the serious questions it raises regarding progress towards greater political freedom in Egypt. We have followed the case very closely. We press our concerns with the Egyptian authorities in the hope of seeing Dr. Ibrahim's release. As you know, our Ambassador and consular officials in Cairo visit Dr. Ibrahim on a regular basis, and we're going to continue to maintain the consular access. That included a visit to Dr. Ibrahim today. The consular officers have brought medical supplies. They've secured special permission for visits of his family and medical officials, and he does appear to be in satisfactory condition, according to those who have seen him.
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We have also been meeting with the Ibrahim family in our consular role on a regular basis. We keep them briefed on our pursuit of this case as a human rights issue and our commitment to the ongoing consular access that I just mentioned.
QUESTION: So can you deal with the Foreign Minister's assertion that, you know, our judiciary is independent of the government and the case went through the court processes. I can imagine what it is the US is asking, because there's always room for executive action, but are you asking for executive action?
MR. REEKER: Again, the next steps in a legal process, which this is, are for Mr. Ibrahim to decide in consultation with his attorneys, and I'm not going to try to comment on those privileged discussions. For our part, we're going to continue to underscore to the Egyptian Government, both here and in Washington, our concern over the verdict and the process that led to Dr. Ibrahim's conviction. We have concerns about what it says about democratic reforms in Egypt and in terms of a human rights question, and we've called for his release.
Yes, one more.
QUESTION: Phil, do you expect some specific steps from the Egyptians, or -- we don't have specific steps that they have to take in order to satisfy you?
MR. REEKER: There's an ongoing legal process, and some of that is very much something that Dr. Ibrahim and his legal team need to decide about. So I don't want to try to get into that. But we have underscored repeatedly to Egyptian officials the importance of this case and that they need to address it and resolve this case.
