When President Donald Trump met with Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi a few weeks ago, many human rights groups got angry that Trump didn’t publicly bring up the case of Aya Hijazi,, a U.S. citizen who was being jailed in Egypt.
On Friday, Hijazi, 30, was returned to the United States after Trump and his administration had spent several weeks negotiating her release with their Egyptian counterparts, The Washington Post reported.
Hijazi, and her husband, were arrested and jailed in 2014 under charges of child abuse and human trafficking — charges the U.S. government claimed were bogus and merely a cover for the Egyptian government jailing anyone who criticized it.
President Barack Obama failed to secure Hijazi’s release, in part because of the frosty relationship between himself and al-Sissi, but Trump was able to get her and her husband released within his first few months in office.
Trump also sent an official U.S. government plane to have Hijazi flown back to the states, and had Dina Powell, his deputy national security advisor, accompany her home.
“We’re very grateful that President Trump personally engaged with the issue. Working closely with the Trump administration was very important for my family at this critical time. It let us be reunited as a family. We’re so grateful,” Basel Hijazi, Hijazi’s brother, told The Washington Post.
The New York Times noted that even though Egyptian authorities had promised to release Hijazi before al-Sissi’s visit to the White House, the Trump administration chose to say nothing about it.
The Los Angeles Times reported that Hijazi visited the White House on Friday and met with Trump in person.
“We are very happy to have Aya back home and it’s a great honor to have her in the Oval Office,” Trump stated while hosting Hijazi in the White House.
This entire case should be a wake-up call to the Trump-hating media. Just because Trump hasn’t been very public about something doesn’t mean he isn’t working hard behind the scenes.
Trump has his own way of conducting diplomacy, and Hijazi is proof of just how effective it can be.
(via: Conservative Tribune)
