A US Republican delegation visiting Cairo on Sunday said President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was the “right man at the right time” for Egypt.

A US Republican delegation visiting Cairo on Sunday said President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was the “right man at the right time” for Egypt even as Washington criticizes alleged rights abuses in the country.

The six-member delegation led by hawkish senator Lindsey Graham backed Sisi in the fight against the militant ISIS group, but was cautious when asked to respond to growing accusations of human rights violations committed by Egyptian security forces.

Graham said Sisi was “the right man at the right time” to lead Egypt as the ISIS group had become a “nightmare” for the entire region.

“There is a desire that Daesh be destroyed in Sinai… the president has expressed his desire to destroy Daesh,” Graham said using the Arabic acronym for the ISIS, which is spearheading an insurgency in the restive peninsula.

When asked about the human rights situation in Egypt, Graham offered a response in stark contrast to the present US administration, which has regularly criticized reported human rights abuses in Egypt.

“I understand that the country is a new democracy and coming out of chaos,” told reporters in Cairo.

“He (Sisi) has to balance security with the rule of law… there are elements that come to Egypt to disrupt the nation and there are many people coming here to help you. Don’t treat them all in the same way,” the senator added.

Rights groups have accused Egypt’s security services of carrying out illegal detentions, forced disappearances of activists and torture of detainees since the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Mursi in July 2013.

After his removal, a police crackdown targeting Mursi’s supporters has left hundreds dead and tens of thousands jailed. Hundreds more have been sentenced to death including Mursi himself.

In March, US Secretary of State John Kerry said there was a “deterioration in the human rights situation in Egypt in recent weeks and months”.

Ties between Washington and Cairo deteriorated after Mursi’s ouster.

The US froze its annual $1.3 billion of military aid to Egypt, which led Cairo to warm up to Russia and France to meet its arms requirements.

But the aid was later released even as Washington remains critical of the government’s rights record.

Related articles across the web

• Allegations of Human Rights Abuse in West Papua Raised at the UN
• Seoul welcomes adoption of new U.N. human rights resolution on Pyongyang
• South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham Lends Support to CARERS Act
• Obama and human rights in Argentina & Cuba
• Israeli Prime Minister Lambasts UN Human Rights Council for Settlement Resolution
• Obama Condones Decades of Human Rights Violations
• Recommendation against Caterpillar a stand for Portland values (OPINION)
• Obama tells Argentinians US Has "to acknowledge its role in human rights abuses"
• Still Report #732 - Lindsey Graham Better to Elect Hillary
• WATCH: Lindsey Graham Offers Tepid Endorsement of Ted Cruz - He's Just 'Partially Crazy'