The US Senate has referred to its Foreign Relations Committee a draft resolution calling on Egypt to abolish its 29-year-old state of emergency, promote democracy and safeguard human rights.
The resolution also calls for lifting state control over foreign financial aid to Egyptian civil society organizations.
US Senators Russ Finegold, Robert Casey, Richard Durbin and former presidential candidate John MacCain said they had submitted the resolution because of Egypt’s leading role in the region and its importance to US national security.
The resolution also calls on the Egyptian government to allow local and international supervision of upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections and to prevent the kind of electoral irregularities reported by civil society organizations in previous elections.
It also urged Egypt to lift legal constraints on electoral candidacy and the establishment of non-governmental organizations and to abandon its policy of random arrest and torture.
The resolution was based on the premise that support for regimes that do not respect human rights serves to jeopardize the credibility of the US.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
