The Coalition of Egyptian-US Organizations sent a letter to U.S. President Barack Obama last Wednesday, calling on him to raise the issues of reform and the emergency law in Egypt with President Mubarak during his expected visit to Washington on May 26. The letter also called on Obama to raise the issues of all freedom-restricting laws, releasing political prisoners, establishing a genuine democracy based on allowing public and religious freedoms, America in Arabic said. The coalition includes the Alliance of Egyptian Americans, the World Center for Koran, the US Copts Association, the Assembly of American Muslims, Ibn Khaldoun Center for Development Studies and Voices for Democracy in Egypt. The coalition called on Obama to discuss the issues of the rule of law, the independence of the judiciary and respecting human rights and the rights of the minorities.
The coalition expressed optimism over Obama's policies and the role he plays to promote the values of freedom, democracy and human rights in the entire world in general and the Arab world and Egypt in particular in his capacity as the key for change in the region.
Peaceful reform is sought by the Egyptians inside and outside Egypt to avoid instability in Egypt and the Middle East, the coalition added. For his part, former president and incumbent board member of the Alliance of Egyptian Americans Safi Edeen Hamid said Obama's choice of Cairo to deliver his speech to the Islamic world is not a reward for the Egyptian role, but it is recognition of its importance.
Dalia Megahed, an Egyptian researcher in religious affairs and advisor to the U.S. President, is behind choosing Cairo to be a political platform for Obama's speech to the Muslim world next June 4.
In a phone call with Al-Masry Al-Youm, Hamid said the US Administration is pragmatic. It does not depend on emotions. In addition to its great political weight in the region, Egypt has a high religious status. Suffice it to know that it has Al-Azhar, which has been a scientific institute throughout ten centuries. It graduates hundreds of Islamic scholars annually in all parts of the world.
Hamid called on the Egyptian regime to assume its responsibilities before the world and its people on the basis of the central role played by Egypt at the Arab and Islamic levels.
The Egyptian community in the US has the right to call for a meeting with President Mubarak, Hamid said, noting that late president Sadat was holding meetings with the Egyptian community during his visits to the United States, unlike Mubarak, who has not met with any throughout 28 years.
Al-Masry Al-Youm asked Hamid if choosing Cairo represents a blow to the Alliance of Egyptian Americans and the February 28 Coalition, which have previously called on Obama not to visit any Islamic capital that does not adopt democracy. Hamid said the White House, Congress, civil society and the media in the United States understand well the deteriorating situation in Egypt at the political level in general and human rights level in particular.
