Cairo raids
January 2, 2012
Egypt's government has denied accusations from human rights groups that it was trying to stifle opponents of the ruling military council when it swept through the offices of 17 non-governmental organizations last week.
Two government ministers told a news conference on Sunday that the authorities had acted within the law as part of an investigation into the illegal funding by foreign countries of political activities in Egypt.
Justice Minister Adel Abdel Hamid Abdullah and Planning and International Cooperation Minister Fayza Abul Naga told reporters that prosecutors were justified in their actions due to concerns that the NGOs appeared to have broken Egyptian law on political funding by foreign entities.
"Foreign organizations have illegally opened offices in Egypt since the January 25 revolution and have broken the law on associations," Abul Naga said, referring to the mass protest that led to the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak last year.
Investigation ongoing
Abdel Hamid said that the probe was looking into whether these groups were behind the demonstrations in Cairo's Tahrir Square, the center of the country's pro-democracy movement.
Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, the Deputy Middle East-Africa Program Director for Amnesty International in London, told Deutsche Welle that the Egyptian authorities were looking at about 300 organizations for possible foreign funding.
The United States, Germany and the United Nations issued strong rebukes concerning the raids, calling on Egyptian authorities to halt the harassment of NGO staff.
Police confiscated computers and documents in last Thursday's NGO raids on – among others - the Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation of Germany and three privately funded US groups: the International Republican Institute, the National Democratic Institute and Freedom House.
The head of the Adenauer foundation's office in Cairo, Andreas Jacobs, has also been called to face questioning in the next few days.
The executive director of the foundation in Germany, Hans-Gert Pöttering, urged the Egyptian authorites "not to obstruct the foundation's valuable work building democratic institutions" in Egypt.
The US State Department hinted that Egypt runs the risk of losing $1.5 billion (1.15 billion euros) in US military aid under a bill enacted a week ago linking assistance to moves toward democracy.
"Actions like these are another reason why my appropriations sub-committee refused to give a blank check of foreign aid to the Egyptian military," said US Senator Patrick Leahy in a statement.
Egypt has promised to end the raids and return seized property, but said that property would only be given back after the investigation was completed.
Author: Gregg Benzow (AFP, AP, Reuters)
Editor: Ben Knight