Relatives of imprisoned or recently released activists in the Middle East, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia, this week called on the United States to use its influence to ensure progress on human rights in those countries.

Their talks in Washington with officials from the White House, State Department and Congress, led by the NGO Freedom Initiative, came almost three months after President Joe Biden’s much-criticized visit to Jeddah, where he met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah met al-Sissi.

The visit focused on Biden’s back-and-forth stance on US allies like Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Before his election, Biden vowed to treat Saudi Arabia as a “pariah” over the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was dismembered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, and to be a harbinger of democracy.

But his warm “punch” salute to Prince Mohammed in July left a bitter taste in some activists and their families, and their visit to Washington was marked by both disenchantment and determination to keep the pressure up.

Sanaa Seif, the sister of Alaa Abdel Fattah, Egypt’s most notorious detainee who has been on a hunger strike for more than six months, told AFP she was “disappointed” that US officials, while “very compassionate,” mean nothing tangible.”

However, pressure from Washington could impact both the Egyptian government and British authorities, prompting them to act more vigorously, she argued. From his cell her brother, who was sentenced to five years in prison for “spreading false information”, became a British citizen this year.

Ahead of next month’s climate summit known as COP27 in Egypt, Palestinian Ramy Shaath, who has been jailed in Egypt for more than 900 days, has called on the United States to ensure that this climate conference is not seen as “greenwashing” the regime.

“The level of repression in Egypt is becoming devastating,” he said, noting that NGOs say the country holds about 60,000 political prisoners.

Still, al-Sissi remains vulnerable to foreign pressure.

“He definitely sees the US and the European Union as the main source of support, the main source of income, the main source of arms, and he’s susceptible to their petty criticism,” Shaath said, adding that he wished such criticism was “louder.” “

Egypt receives more than $1 billion a year in direct US military aid.

Lina al-Hathloul, the sister of Loujain al-Hathloul, a Saudi women’s rights activist who was released from prison in 2021 but was still banned from leaving the country, told US officials that “the only concrete solution[was]to stop encouraging a dictator,” referring to the crown prince.

“You have leverage,” she urged.

Ahead of Biden’s trip to Jeddah in mid-July, “we were clear with our message: If the government visits our countries without making clear human rights conditions, it will get worse and our oppressors will feel emboldened.” Lina al-Hathloul AFP.

“They promised us it wouldn’t happen like that,” she added, but the situation in Saudi Arabia is “clearly worse than before.”

“Everyone is scared,” she said. “People get jailed for tweeting.”

In September, Biden assured the United Nations General Assembly that “the United States will always promote human rights … around the world” and that “the future will be won by those countries that develop their full potential populations.”

But his “fist bump” diplomacy, meant to mark a fresh start with Riyadh, showed its limitations in another area on Wednesday when it announced that Saudi Arabia-led oil-exporting group Opec+ would cut production.

“Biden traded his human rights principles for the Saudi crown prince’s pledge to increase oil production,” railed Kenneth Roth, former head of the NGO Human Rights Watch. “So Joe Biden, was it worth it?”