Rights on Trial

Egypt Prosecutes NGOs

Human Rights – The battle between the Egyptian military regime and human rights NGOs has intensified following an announcement that 43 NGO workers will face criminal trial. Charges have been brought under a Mubarak-era law that prohibits NGOs from receiving foreign funding without registration to the Ministry of Insurance and Social Solidarity.

The decision to bring prosecutions follows months of targeted action by the Egyptian regime against pro-democracy and human rights NGOs. Groups have been subjected to office raids and travel bans. Judge Ashraf al-Ashmawy who announced the intention of the Cairo criminal court to proceed with criminal trials stated that the NGO workers are charged with “accepting funds and benefits from an international organisation” and the execution of “political training programmes.”

A number of foreign governments have been outspoken in their condemnation of the action taken against selected civil society organisations. With the new Egyptian parliament still facing a serious crisis of legitimation, such controversial steps are hardly likely to consolidate its power.

The exercise of Mubarak-style political manoeuvres serves to demonstrate that the country is still not free from the grasp of dictatorship; rather, the iron-fisted rule is simply acting under a new name. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (Scaf) remains a threat to the realisation of genuine democracy in Egypt, and with so little hesitation to publicly persecute groups working for democracy and human rights, it represents a substantial obstacle to peace and stability.

With the Egyptian people still determined to take up the cause of democratic governance, the international community must assist them to ensure that those working for fundamental rights and freedoms do not face persecution.

Read more at the Guardian.