US: NGOs call Mubarak to account for abuses

Egyptian President Mohammad Hosni Mubarak is visiting Washington this week and will meet with U.S. President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Jewish American groups. But Egyptian Americans are using Mubarak's visit as an occasion to call attention to Mubarak's human rights abuses and to pressure the Obama administration to keep its commitment to supporting human rights and democracy throughout the world. On Monday, a coalition of Egyptian American groups, including the Coptic Assembly of America, Voices for Democratic Egypt, the Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies and the International Qur'anic Center, issued statements regarding the Egyptian president's abuses of power and failure to support democracy and human rights in Egypt. While offering harsh criticism of Mubarak's actions as president the group - known as the February 28 Coalition - thanked Obama for the commitments he gave in his Cairo speech but urged him to match his words with action and leadership. ''Next year Egypt is scheduled to hold parliamentary elections, followed in 2011 by a presidential election,'' said the letter to Obama by the coalition. ''With two major democratic tests looming on the horizon, we write to you to request your support in asking the Egyptian government to take two immediate and urgent actions, in addition to ending the emergency law and releasing political prisoners.''