Stop harassing US citizens in Egypt: Mike Pompeo warns Egypt after release of American student

USSecretary of State Mike Pompeo has urged the Egyptian government to stop harassing the US citizens residing in Egypt.

The statement came after Egypt releasedMohamed Amashah, an American medical student, after being locked up in Egyptian prison for nearly 16 months.

Amashah wasarrested in Cairo's Tahrir Square for holding up a sign seeking the release of prisoners, according to human rights campaigners. He is a dual-citizen of the US and Egypt but resides in New Jersey. He was released from the Egyptian prison on Monday.

"We thank Egypt for securing his release and his repatriation," Pompeo told a news conference.

"But at the same time, we urge Egyptian officials to stop unwarranted harassment of US citizens and their families who remain there," he said.

Pompeo issued the statement after a group of foreign policy experts urged him to warn the Egyptian government against the ongoing harassment of the US citizens and even the Egyptian journalists and activists. The group had asked Pompeo to make it clear to the Egyptian government that all sort of aids, including military aid, will be at stake if Egypt does not stop the harassment.

"As the Trump administration tries to hold Iran and China to account for their reckless and dangerous abuses of human rights, we hope that you will hold Egypt to the same standards," said the working group on Egypt organized under the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

"Continued mass violations of human rights increase the prospect of instability in Egypt and threaten US national security interests," they wrote.