Egypt’s steady decline

How a nation treats civil society and human rights groups is a good indicator of whether it has any future ambitions toward democracy. Sadly the news is not good for Egypt right now.

Egyptian President AbdelFattah el-Sissi, one of President Trump’s new buddies, last week signed a law that will radically restrict the work of thousands of nongovernmental organizations — including human rights groups and charities — working in Egypt.

The law will severely restrict the financing of such groups, limit their activities and ban them from engaging in any political activity. Any donations above $550 to any group must be pre-approved by the government. Noncompliance could result in jail terms of up to five years.

“This is a catastrophic blow for human rights groups working in Egypt,” said Najia Bounaim of Amnesty International.

At least 21 websites, including major news sites, have also been blocked recently.

There is little question that Egypt faces ongoing terrorist threats and frankly we were not among those crying salty tears following the military’s overthrow of Islamist Mohamed Morsi. The Arab Spring had its downside and Morsi seemed determined to prove that. Now Sissi seems determined to once again take Egypt down an autocratic path.

“For too long the international community has turned a blind eye to the steady erosion of human rights in Egypt,” Bounaim said.

That would include our own president, who not only welcomed Sissi into the White House, but during his recent Middle East swing accepted Sissi’s own invitation to visit Egypt. Such acceptance — without human rights strings attached — sends the message that the Egyptian president’s conduct is acceptable. It isn’t and it behooves our own leaders to tell him so.