ShqipAmericans Persecuted By Egypt Regime Watch As Trump Embraces It
cheap canada goose uk Locking him in a windowless room, they encouraged him to commit suicide, occasionally slipping razor blades inside his cell. cheap canada goose uk
But President Donald Canada Goose sale Trump’s Canada Goose Outlet “America First” administration hasn’t punished the boss of Egypt’s security forces, President Abdel Fattah el Sissi. Instead, Trump this week hosted el Sissi at the White House, effectively rewarding him, American victims’ families and rights activists say.
buy canada goose jacket cheap “I’m very disappointed,” Soltan told the Huffington Post Tuesday, after buy canada goose jacket Trump held a congenial Monday summit with el Sissi. “Honestly, el Sissi got more PR out of this White House visit than any PR or lobbying contract he could have gotten.” buy canada goose jacket cheap
canada goose coats Up to 20 Americans have been jailed as part of the Egyptian president’s Canada Goose online surge of repression since he seized power in a 2013 military coup. They share the prisons with an estimated 60,000 political prisoners and dozens of journalists. canada goose coats
The Trump team has embraced el Sissi granting him the White House photo ops that President Barack Obama never did and classifying humans rights concerns as a matter for private talks. http://www.canadagoosecanadaoutlet.com approach to Egypt will buy canada goose jacket cheap only encourage el Sissi to continue or even worsen his crackdown.
“I can only imagine what folks in prison in Egypt are bracing themselves for and the canada goose outlet level of repression that will happen canada goose coats on sale in the upcoming months. This has a real human cost,” Soltan said.
canada goose uk outlet Soltan’s father remains in prison, sentenced to death for his role in the opposition Muslim Brotherhood movement. (Soltan said he does not share his father’s views; he rejects the idea that Egyptians must be classified in binary terms, as either as pro Sissi or pro Brotherhood.) canada goose uk outlet
canadian goose jacket Soltan was first arrested for live tweeting canada goose clearance a 2013 protest. tour to boost public outrage over those in jail. canadian goose jacket
“People don’t know. Working with fellow activists, he arranged for 2,500 posters to be plastered around the capital and created a display van that would advertise statements from groups like Human Rights Watch.
Canada Goose Online Other Americans with imprisoned loved ones are more circumspect, hoping that staying quiet will encourage the regime to soften. Canada Goose Online
Canada Goose Outlet Aya Hijazi, canada goose store an aid worker who created the non profit Baladi, has been in jail for nearly three years. Her case has gained a high profile since lawmakers and the Obama administration began publicly speaking of her detention last year. But her family does not currently want to talk to the media. Canada Goose Outlet
canada goose factory sale “Right now, the family’s primary concern is Aya and her well being, and they remain optimistic, as Aya remains optimistic, that given the lack of evidence presented against her, that she will be acquitted on [April 16],” said Wade McMullen, an attorney with the nonprofit Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights who is representing the family. canada goose factory sale
uk canada goose The family already experienced a setback last month, when a Cairo court unexpectedly postponed its verdict. uk canada goose
canada goose clearance sale For them, it’s important to avoid alienating Trump’s team or pressing the Egyptian regime so intensely that it finds it embarrassing to offer any clemency. government,” McMullen said Tuesday. “President el Sissi received a very canada goose black friday sale warm welcome here at the White House yesterday, and I would suspect that for a warm relationship to continue, he could not keep jailing American citizens.” canada goose clearance sale
Relatives of three other cheap Canada Goose prisoners who have previously avoided publicity are becoming more vocal, avoiding direct critique of el Sissi while placing a great deal of hope in Trump. They made a joint appeal to him prior to the visit, echoing his campaign trail rhetoric. “Egypt is counting on America to be weak. We are counting on you to show America’s strength,” they wrote, according to a copy of the letter provided to HuffPost.
uk canada goose outlet The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the letter, potential communications with the three families or a Reuters report saying that Trump avoided speaking on Hejazi’s case to el Sissi. uk canada goose outlet
“Trump could simply ask Egypt to release him,” Dr. Nagwa El canada goose clearance sale Kordy, a signatory to the letter, told HuffPost. Her son, 26 year old Ahmed Etwiy, has been imprisoned since August 2013. He was arrested and is being tried along with several hundred other defendants. Once a student at the German University in Cairo, Etwiy is now being denied due process,his family said.
canada goose black friday sale Eman Kassim, another signatory, said her 52 year old brother Mustafa is becoming weak and ill in jail. canada goose black friday sale
“They gave Canada Goose Parka him the worst food not healthy for him, not healthy for anybody. Imagine, if somebody has a health problem,” she told HuffPost. Her brother is a diabetes and heart disease patient. He was arrested on Aug. 14, 2013 while he was participating in sit in protests against the coup at Rabaa Square in Cairo. More than 1,150 demonstrators died that day after police and army forces began to attack them, Human Rights Watch later reported.
Canada Goose online “He has the rights of any American,” Kassim said. “There’s no response, nothing on Capitol Hill. Everything stays the same. We wish that President Trump does something for him, as an American citizen and as a human being. He didn’t do anything wrong. He didn’t harm anyone.” Canada Goose online
Seventeen year old Ahmed Hassan is in Egypt’s jails too. He was arrested in December 2016 for protesting his uncle’s arrest and placed in a jail cell with more than 20 adults, the letter stated.
Soltan, who lives in Virginia, believes vocal, visible pressure is essential for any relief.
“With the el Sissi regime, only public and private negative pressure works. I am living proof of that,” he said, citing social media campaigns and frequent statements his supporters made while he was in jail.
Canada Goose Jackets Soltan criticized the idea of discussing human rights behind closed doors, something he said former Secretary of State John Kerry has tried since the coup to little effect. In addition to his Washington campaign highlighting el Sissi’s repression, he has launched a video project about the prison issue and written extensively about his own experience, most recently in the Washington Post. Canada Goose Jackets
“We’re using me as a success story that has worked in the past,” Soltan said. canada goose “How can we do that for thousands of others who are unjustly detained, to give a voice to them?”
A bipartisan group of canadian goose jacket powerful lawmakers shares his view. Sens. Marco Rubio (R Fla.) joined five Democrats in signing an April 3 letter organized by Sen. Tim Kaine (D Va.) that calls for Hijazi’s release and questions el Sissi’s behavior. El Sissi’s reception in Congress on Tuesday was reportedly far cooler than what he received at the White House on Monday.
canada goose And on Wednesday evening, the night before the general turned president is scheduled to leave the Four Seasons Hotel in Georgetown, canada goose deals another rebuke awaits: Soltan is organizing a sit in. He calls it his “send off.” canada goose
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article misstated the ages of two of the Americans held in Egyptian jails. Ahmed Etwiy, Dr. Nagwa El Kordy’s son who was arrested in 2013, is 26. Ahmed Hassan, who was arrested in 2016, is 17.