Resumption of the NGOs trial in Cairo
The trial of members of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), accused of financing illegal and illicit activities, resumes on Thursday in Cairo of Egypt after the departure of 13 foreign defendants.
Source : https://www.marocafrik.com/english/Resumption-of-t...
Forty-three members of Egyptian and foreign NGOs, including 19 Americans, are accused by the justice and the power of having received illegal foreign funding and interference in the political affairs of the country, AFP reports.
The trial, which caused tension with the United States, was opened on February 26 before being adjourned.
After months of pressure from Washington, 13 foreign defendants including six Americans, left Egypt on March 1 after the lifting of the ban on leaving the territory which was imposed, according to the Department of Eat American.
The departure of these foreigners has provoked an outcry in Parliament which convened on March 11 for Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri for "explanations" of this decision. Three judges resigned from the tribunal.
The United States had said last week it was working to drop the charges leveled against members of American and Egyptian NGOs.
Human Rights Watch expressed the hope that the charges would be dropped against the defendants.
Some U.S. lawmakers have warned that this trial might have irremediable consequences for relations between Egypt and the United States, major funders of the Egyptian authorities, with an annual military aid of 1, 3 billion.
At the end of December, 17 local NGOs in the promotion of democracy and support civil society had been searched and their technical equipment and archives confiscated.
Besides the Egypt section of the International Republican Institute (IRI), are among these NGOs those U.S. National Democratic Institute (NDI) and Freedom House, and the German Konrad Adenauer Foundation.
Egyptian law is very restrictive as regards NGO activities and is inherited from the days of Hosni Mubarak, hostile to any attempt to promote democracy from the outside and good governance in his country.
The trial, which caused tension with the United States, was opened on February 26 before being adjourned.
After months of pressure from Washington, 13 foreign defendants including six Americans, left Egypt on March 1 after the lifting of the ban on leaving the territory which was imposed, according to the Department of Eat American.
The departure of these foreigners has provoked an outcry in Parliament which convened on March 11 for Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri for "explanations" of this decision. Three judges resigned from the tribunal.
The United States had said last week it was working to drop the charges leveled against members of American and Egyptian NGOs.
Human Rights Watch expressed the hope that the charges would be dropped against the defendants.
Some U.S. lawmakers have warned that this trial might have irremediable consequences for relations between Egypt and the United States, major funders of the Egyptian authorities, with an annual military aid of 1, 3 billion.
At the end of December, 17 local NGOs in the promotion of democracy and support civil society had been searched and their technical equipment and archives confiscated.
Besides the Egypt section of the International Republican Institute (IRI), are among these NGOs those U.S. National Democratic Institute (NDI) and Freedom House, and the German Konrad Adenauer Foundation.
Egyptian law is very restrictive as regards NGO activities and is inherited from the days of Hosni Mubarak, hostile to any attempt to promote democracy from the outside and good governance in his country.
Source : https://www.marocafrik.com/english/Resumption-of-t...