I still haven’t seen Rendition, but I don’t need Reese Witherspoon to tell me that there’s some shady shit going down in Egypt-land. And of course, American tax dollars are paying for it. Here’s some info from a recent NY Times article:
Muhammad Al-Sharqawi protests in front of the Press Syndicate in Cairo, May 25, 2006, about an hour before his arrest.: The sign reads "I want my rights!" and calls for the release of detainees held over the course of the previous month's crackdown

The shift is not so much that American officials no longer mention human rights and democracy; it is more that they do not follow up to ensure results. Instead, there seems to be a tacit understanding whereby Washington criticizes Egypt’s human rights failings, Egypt takes umbrage at the “interference” in domestic affairs and little changes.

For example, last June, President Bush singled out a handful of political dissidents as “unjustly imprisoned,” including Ayman Nour, the onetime presidential candidate and opposition political leader here in Egypt, and greeted democracy advocates, including Saad Eddin Ibrahim, also Egyptian.

Yet Mr. Nour remains in prison, a year into a five-year sentence. Mr. Ibrahim has been living in self-imposed exile, fearful that if he returns to Egypt he will be put in prison, again, for his political activities.

Emphasis mine.

Full story

So if you want to make sure that human rights in Egypt gets taken more seriously I recommend a couple of things. First, there’s Human Rights Watch, and their excellent page that thoroughly covers all kinds of issues going on in Egypt lately. You can of course contribute to HRW if you feel so moved. (Charity Navigator gives them three out of four stars).

If you don’t have spare cash, but still want to speak out, I recommend calling your senator and mentioning that you’ve been really disappointed in Egypt's human rights record, and you’d like for your senator to look into it and find out why we continue to give them tons of cash. Find you senator’s contact info here.

If you just want to be more educated so that you can start conversations about this kind of thing with friends and neighbors, and raise awareness across the board, check out the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies which gives you a sense of the view from inside Egypt.