Obama Stresses Rights in Sisi Call

President Barack Obama Tuesday stressed the need for political freedoms in Egypt, as he spoke to the country's new president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who overthrew his freely elected predecessor and crushed his party.

Obama spoke by telephone to Sisi, as the United States resumed its uncomfortable balancing act between retaining influence with Egypt, a key regional power, despite discomfort with a political regime that conflicts with its own values.

"The president reiterated the United States’ continuing support for the political, economic, and social aspirations of the Egyptian people, and respect for their universal rights," said a White House statement.

Sisi "expressed appreciation" for the call and welcomed U.S. support for his new government, following his swearing-in on Sunday, the statement said.

The two leaders also reaffirmed support for the strategic partnership between their nations.

That partnership has come under severe strain since Sisi overthrew the country's first freely elected president, Islamist Mohamed Morsi, last year and crushed his Muslim Brotherhood.

Sisi won election last month in a lopsided vote but the poll was boycotted by the Brotherhood and secular dissidents, and the turnout, at 47 percent, complicated his efforts to claim a mandate.

U.S. officials announced in April they planned to resume some military aid to Cairo, suspended late last year, including 10 Apache helicopters for counterterrorism efforts in the Sinai peninsula.

But the aircraft remain in storage in the United States, and a request to release some $650 million in frozen aid has been put on hold by powerful Democrats in Congress.

There are no plans to release the rest of the currently blocked $1.5 billion in annual U.S. aid to Egypt. Secretary of State John Kerry is bound by law to certify that Egypt is heading back towards democracy before it can be freed up.

The call between Obama and Sisi took place as Washington condemned scenes in Tahrir Square in Cairo in which a woman was stripped, sexually assaulted and filmed during Sisi's inauguration.

The video "shocked and appalled us as much as it did the Egyptian people," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

"We urge the government to make good on its promise to do whatever it takes to combat sexual harassment and implement the new law that punishes convicted harassers."