WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration said Thursday that Egypt's poor human rights record hasn't improved, but it won't withhold as much military aid as it did last year regardless. Egypt has been a top recipient of U.S. military aid since it signed a U.S.-brokered peace deal with Israel in 1979. Congress in recent years has attached restrictions meant to pressure Egyptian leaders to curb human rights abuses to a comparatively small portion of the more than $1 billion in annual military aid to the country. Rights groups and some congressional Democrats had urged the Biden administration to take a hard line against Egypt on human rights, while some lawmakers said strategic interests should be prioritized. U.S. officials said the decision announced Thursday did not signal that the U.S. believed Egypt had made progress on human rights.

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Persons: —, Biden, Abdel Fattah el, ” Amr Magdi, ” Magdi, Hisham Kassem, Sen, Chris Murphy, Sisi, Kassem, Jamal Khashoggi, “, Matthew Lee Organizations: WASHINGTON, U.S, State Department, Human Rights, Connecticut Democrat, Freedom, U.S . State Department, PEN, Amnesty International, Amnesty, Saudi, Newsweek Locations: Egypt, U.S, Israel, Connecticut, Taiwan, Ukraine, PEN America, Saudi Arabia