A US judge has dismissed Egyptian-American activist Mohamed Soltan’s lawsuit against former Egyptian Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi that accused him of involvement in torture.

Egypt’s prime minister said on Thursday that diplomatic ties with Turkey could be restored this year if outstanding issues were overcome, signalling a cautiously optimistic tone amid ongoing efforts by the regional rivals to end a years-long rift.

Egypt’s intelligence director has claimed the US agreed to imprison Egyptian-American activist Mohamed Soltan after he was released from prison in Egypt in 2015, Politico reported.

The Egyptian premier’s trip, at the head of a delegation of 11 ministers, was the first such visit to Tripoli since the installation of Libya’s interim government last month.

The Biden administration has said a lawsuit against former Egyptian Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi, over his alleged involvement in torture, should be thrown out due to diplomatic immunity privileges he held at the time.

The Biden administration has said a lawsuit seeking to hold former Egyptian Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi accountable for alleged involvement in torture against an Egyptian-American activist should be thrown out because he held diplomatic immunity, the Washington Post newspaper reported on Monday.

Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly delivered a speech on Thursday during the United Nation’s General Assembly’s high-level meeting on water, where he underscored the criticality of the decade-long dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) and Egypt’s concern with the developments of the dispute.

A lawsuit accusing Egypt’s former prime minister of overseeing the torture of an American citizen could test President Joe Biden’s pledge to hold foreign governments accountable for their human rights failings.

The new US administration of Joe Biden has suspended the request of immunity for former Egyptian Prime Minister Hazem El Beblawi in a torture case brought to courts by US citizen Mohamed Soltan, the legal reporter for the Washington Post Spencer Hsu tweeted on Saturday.

Egypt’s Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly recently issued a decision to revoke the nationality of Ghada Naguib, an opposition political activist and the wife of well-known artist Hisham Abdallah, both of whom have lived in Turkey for several years.