Cairo - Egypt showed its support to the new law; made for non-governmental organizations, after a statement by three U.S. Republican senators saying that the law is "draconian" and a sign of "a growing crackdown on human rights and peaceful dissent". The law, ratified days ago by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, regulates NGOs activities just to be limited to developmental and social work, and in case if any NGO refuses this, its members will face jail terms up to five years. Egyptian lawmakers said that the law was essential in regards to protection of human rights in Egypt, especially with previous accusations by Egyptian government against NGOs of taking foreign funds to spread chaos across the country. Cairo's foreign ministry denied the law aimed to restrict NGOs and said some of them "have gotten used to working outside the law ... to defame the image of civil society in Egypt". In Washington on Wednesday, Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham said in a joint statement: "President al-Sisi's decision to ratify the draconian legislation ... that regulates the work of non-governmental organizations is the latest sign of a growing crackdown on human rights and peaceful dissent in Egypt." McCain, who is chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Graham said the U.S. Congress should in response "strengthen democratic benchmarks and human rights conditions on U.S. assistance for Egypt." "This law is a direct attack on independent civil society in Egypt," Senator Marco Rubio, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. In Egypt's response, foreign ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said: "It is important to be vigilant about the intention of some civil society entities that have gotten used to working outside the law, and that were harmed by the issuing of the new law, to defame the image of civil society in Egypt." Egypt is one of Washington's closest allies in the Middle East, receiving $1.3 billion in U.S. military aid annually. U.S. President Donald Trump praised Sisi after a meeting in Saudi Arabia last week, saying the Egyptian leader had "done a tremendous job under trying circumstance."
