Report: Trump officials negotiated release of aid worker Aya Hijazi from Egypt
Humanitarian worker Aya Hijazi was released back to the U.S. this week after three years' imprisonment in Egypt for child abuse and trafficking charges considered by most aid groups and American officials to be fraudulent, reports the Washington Post.
Hijazi, an Egyptian-American with U.S. citizenship, was released along with her Egyptian husband, Mohamed Hassanein; they were in the country doing work for the Belady Foundation, a charity they founded to care for impoverished and homeless children; four other aid workers were also freed, notes CNN.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi
On Thursday, she and her husband were flown home from Cairo on a government aircraft.
The prevailing narrative is that the Trump administration was instrumental in her release, employing diplomacy behind the scenes, notes the Post.
SEE ALSO: 6 mummies discovered near Egypt's Valley of the Kings
According to the BBC, President Trump had been criticized by some for praising Egypt's controversial President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and welcoming him to the White House on April 3. The Obama administration had refused to host him due to his poor record on human rights.
USA Today notes that Hijazi met with President Trump, first daughter Ivanka Trump, and her husband and senior White House adviser Jared Kushner in the Oval Office on Friday.
