Egypt’s jailing of journalists a setback for ties with US

Embarrassment for US secretary of state John Kerry as court issues ruling against Al Jazeera journalists one day after visit to Cairo to mend fences.

NEW YORK // The United States’ top diplomat used his stop in Cairo this week to announce the delivery of military aid and hardware that had been suspended for nearly a year, and signal that Washington was seeking to mend strained relations with the new government of a crucial regional ally.

But jail sentences handed down to three Al Jazeera journalists less than 24 hours after John Kerry’s visit proved to be an embarrassment for the Obama administration and raised questions over whether a key senator will allow the delivery of attack helicopters that Cairo says it urgently needs for its fight against Islamists.

On Sunday, Mr Kerry announced that all but $78 million (Dh286.5m) of the $650m in military aid that had been blocked in April by the senator, Patrick Leahy, had been disbursed and that the 10 Apache helicopters would be delivered “very, very soon”.

The sentences of between seven and 10 years for the three journalists, including two westerners, however, sparked outrage on Capitol Hill.

Mr Leahy said that while he had agreed to release “the bulk” of the aid in order to honour contracts with US weapons firms, further aid should be withheld until Egyptian officials “demonstrate a basic commitment to justice and human rights”.

“The harsh actions taken today against journalists is the latest descent toward despotism,” he said.

Mr Leahy, who chairs the Senate subcommittee on foreign aid, has become a powerful player in the debate over Egypt policy in Washington that has seen the administration take muddled, sometimes contradictory positions.

After the overthrow of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi, the US froze its annual $1.3 billion in military aid and Congress passed legislation forcing the administration to certify Egypt was meeting benchmarks in its democratic transition as well as its obligations as a strategic ally – mainly by upholding its peace treaty with Israel and giving quick passage to US ships through the Suez Canal and overflight rights for military aircraft.

The administration has been urging Congress to support the aid programme as it struggles to help stabilise the Middle East.

In April, Mr Kerry announced that he had certified Egypt was meeting requirements and that $650m in aid would be delivered as well as 10 Apache helicopters and other previously paid for hardware.

However, following the conviction of the journalists, Mr Leahy announced that he was putting a hold on the military aid despite the certification.

Mr Kerry, on a tour of Middle East capitals to rally support for combating extremists in Iraq, seemed to have been taken by surprise by the verdict on Monday, telling reporters in Baghdad that he had discussed the cases with the newly elected Egyptian president Abdel Fattah El Sisi the day before, and that the convictions were “chilling and draconian”.

The White House urged Mr El Sisi to pardon the journalists and release them immediately, saying the “prosecution of journalists for reporting information that does not coincide with the Government of Egypt’s narrative flouts the most basic standards of media freedom and represents a blow to democratic progress”.

But the strong words from the US administration are likely to do little to prevent the fallout.

“It’s very poor planning to send the secretary of state to Egypt the day before this ruling comes down, because it just makes it that much harder to sell the administration’s strategy here at home,” said Eric Trager, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy think tank.

Members of Congress expect guarantees that aid will temper what many in Washington see as repressive tactics that could dangerously radicalise Islamists.

Even if the administration has prioritised the importance of its immediate security relationship with Cairo, Mr Kerry’s ill-timed trip “highlights … the ineffectual leverage that the US has on the Egyptian political process”, said Michael Hanna, an expert on Middle East politics at The Century Foundation think tank in New York.

Analysts say it would be shocking if Mr Kerry and his staff did not know that the sentences were scheduled to be delivered the day after his visit.

Based on recent discussions at the State Department, Mr Trager said the timing is being read there as “a slap in the face of Kerry”, and suggests his staff did not know the sentencing date.

“There’s no strategy,” he said.

Mr Leahy’s hold on the Apache helicopters, which are not covered by the Congressional certifications, has badly damaged perceptions in Cairo, Mr Trager said.

Egypt’s generals believe the Obama administration is holding up the Apaches, “which is not true”, but shows “just how little trust there is in the White House by the new government in Cairo”, he said.