Post date: Aug 19, 2013 8:13:21 PM
U.S. State Department says no decision has been made on freezing aid to Egypt, adding the U.S. is troubled by "suspicious deaths" of Egyptian prisoners.
WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (AUGUST 19, 2013) (STATE DEPARTMENT TV) - The United States has not made a decision on whether to freeze economic assistance to Egypt in a review underway by the Obama administration of all U.S. aid to the country, the State Department said on Monday. (August 19)
"We have not made a policy decision to put a blanket hold on the economic support fund," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told a briefing, adding later that the review also applied to military and security assistance to Egypt."That review is ongoing, and includes military assistance, security assistance and also includes economic assistance," she added.
Psaki said U.S. funding for non-governmental agencies would not be affected regardless of whether the U.S. imposed restrictions on aid.
Psaki also told reporters at the briefing that the United States is deeply concerned about the deaths of Muslim Brotherhood prisoners while in custody in Egypt, terming them "suspicious," and made clear that it does not believe the Islamist group should be banned.
"We are deeply troubled by the suspicious deaths of Muslim Brotherhood prisoners in a purported prison escape attempt near Cairo," Psaki told reporters, referring to 37 supporters of ousted President Mohamed Mursi who died in disputed circumstances on Sunday.
Almost 900 people, including nearly 100 soldiers and police, have died in Egyptsince the authorities on Wednesday began to forcibly break up Muslim Brotherhoodsit-ins by supporters of Mursi, who was toppled in a July 3 military coup.
Police have rounded up hundreds of Mursi's Brotherhood backers in recent days as the army-backed government has tried to end weeks of protests and to stamp their authority on the deeply polarized nation.
Divergent explanations have emerged for the deaths of the prisoners on Sunday.
A coroner's report said the men died from suffocation after police used teargas to stop a mass escape on Sunday while a group of more than 600 suspects were being transported to the Abu Zabal prison on the outskirts of Cairo.
Photos provided by the lawyers representing the detainees show dead bodies with charred faces and limbs and others covered in bruises which the lawyers said were signs of torture. Details of the incident remain unclear, they said.