AFP: Egypt Set to Further Crackdown by Announcing Trial for Pro-democracy NGO Workers

Egypt trial of foreign NGO activists on Feb 26
Agence France Presse

CAIRO — Egypt was set to further widen a row with the United States by announcing on Saturday that it would go ahead with a trial of foreign democracy activists, including 19 Americans, on February 26.

A court set the date for the start of the trial of 43 suspects — who also include Serbs, Norwegians, Germans, Egyptians, Palestinians and Jordanians — in a crackdown on NGOs accused of receiving illegal foreign aid, state media announced.

The defendants are charged with “establishing unlicensed chapters of international organisations and accepting foreign funding to finance these groups in a manner that breached the Egyptian state’s sovereignty,” official MENA news agency reported.

Officials had previously said 44 suspects would face trial.

Several of the American suspects have sought refuge in their embassy in Cairo as Washington hinted that the crackdown could harm its longstanding ties with the Egyptian government.

The main suspect, Sam Lahood, is the son of US transportation secretary Ray Lahood. He heads the Egyptian chapter of the International Republican Institute, one of the targeted American groups along with the National Democratic Institute and Freedom House.

Prosecutors backed by police had raided the groups’ offices in December, confiscating their equipping and waxing their doors.

Activists say the raids, which coincided with growing dissent against Egypt’s military rulers, was part of a campaign to stamp out opposition to the generals who took charge after an uprising overthrew president Hosni Mubarak a year ago.