Hands off the Brothers.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration on Thursday sharpened its criticism of the Egyptian military and interim government’s arrests of supporters of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, saying the continuing detentions are inconsistent with pledges of inclusivity made by authorities and may affect future US assistance.
While the administration has determined it is not in US national security interests to make any immediate changes to its aid program, officials said the continuing arrests of members of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood and political party are troubling. The criticism is some of the most severe of Egypt’s new leadership since Morsi was toppled last week and came a day after arrest warrants were issued for the Muslim Brotherhood’s spiritual leader and nine other Islamists accused of inciting violence.
The White House and State Department both warned against targeting any particular group in the aftermath of Morsi’s overthrow, calling it self-defeating and counter to the idea of restoring a democratically election civilian government.
At the State Department, spokeswoman Jen Psaki echoed those comments and went further, saying that the arrests contradicted assurances given to US officials by the Egyptian military and members of the interim government.
Psaki added that US policy makers would be looking closely to see if the arrests continue as they review decisions on assistance to Egypt.
“We’re looking at what happened last week and how things are certainly handled moving forward,” she said. “Those are all factors in our decision-making around our policy as it relates to Egypt.”