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The U.S. Department of Justice has accused Pierre Girgis of acting as a foreign agent in Egypt without informing the U.S. government.
U.S. officials have arrested an Egyptian-American in New York on suspicion of acting illegally on the orders of the Egyptian government to monitor the “political opponents” of the country’s president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
U.S. Department of Justice he said Pierre Girgis, 39, was arrested on Thursday.
Girgis has been charged with conspiracy to act as a foreign agent and acting as a foreign agent without notifying the U.S. Attorney General’s Office of the amounts that could result in five to 10 years in prison, respectively.
“Foreign agents need to sign up for our government for a good reason; they often act in the best interests of their country and against the United States,” said Michael J Driscoll, the FBI’s assistant New York area director. in the office, he said in a note.
“We allege that Mr. Girgis returned non-public information to Egypt for the benefit of the Egyptian government. Mr. Girgis broke our laws, and we have to hold him accountable. ‘
The Justice Department said Girgis worked “in the direction and control of multiple officials” in Egypt to gather information about Egyptian dissidents. The alleged activities took place between 2014 and 2019, the department reported.
“By order of Egyptian officials, Girgis’s allegedly prohibited conduct was an attempt to conceal public information about the activities of the Egyptian president’s political opponents, and foreign officials wanted access to training only to enforce Manhattan law.” Damian Williams is also a U.S. attorney he said.
Al Jazeera could not reach Girgis or his lawyers. The Egyptian embassy in Washington (DC) did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.
The Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA), a U.S. law of 1938, requires people working on behalf of U.S. foreign governments to register with the Department of Justice and to make their political activities public on a regular basis.
The U.S. and Egypt have warm relations, and Washington provides $ 1.3 billion a year in military aid to and above Cairo. U.S. officials praise the Egyptian government For playing a key role in the Middle East.
But US President Joe Biden has called for more pressure on Egypt to respect human rights.
Since coming to power in a 2013 coup, thousands of dissidents have been jailed and accused of outlawing almost all forms of political opposition. However, the Egyptian president denies having political detainees and says his government is fighting “terrorism”.
Biden promised to put it on Human rights At the heart of U.S. foreign policy, and ahead of the 2020 election, “no more empty checks [Donald] Trump’s ‘favorite dictator’ ”referring to el-Sisi.
But since taking office, the Biden administration has said it is pushing for stronger US-Egypt cooperation.
Biden He withheld $ 130 million Of the $ 1.3 billion a year given to Egypt for human rights issues, but human rights groups demanded at least $ 300 million in suspension.
“If the administration’s sincere commitment to human rights were to be sincere, this decision would be simple: to adhere to the $ 300 million military aid conditional on Congress to push it to change the path of al-Sisi.” a coalition organizations said in September.
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