Egypt has sentenced 43 aid workers, including at least 16 Americans, to up to five years in prison after accusing them of working for organisations operating illegally and using foreign funding to foment unrest.
The case had sparked international outrage, souring relations between Egypt and the US and inflaming domestic fears over the potential for foreign funding to influence internal political affairs.
The NGO staffers were arrested following armed police raids on 17 offices across Cairo in December 2011, after the then minister of international co-operation, Fayza Abul-Naga, alleged that the US had broken bilateral agreements by diverting $150 million (€115 million) from its aid budget to the groups.
The raids focused on international organisations and domestic bodies that received foreign funding. These included the US-government-funded National Democratic Institute (NDI) and Freedom House.
Seven of the American defendants spent weeks holed up in Cairo’s US embassy following the arrests, and six of them – including Sam LaHood, son of the US transportation secretary Ray LaHood – subsequently left the country.
In yesterday’s criminal court ruling, 27 defendants received five-year prison sentences in absentia. Other jail terms ranged from one to two years.
The prosecution had argued the NGOs were operating illegally since they were not formally registered, a legal requirement in Egypt. But critics say the legislation governing civil society is ambiguous. Under article five of the law, organisations which do not receive a response to their registration within 60 days are deemed legal.
The defendants say their NGOs had been tacitly allowed to operate by the Egyptian government.
– (Guardian service)