Egyptian court convicts all 43 defendants in NGO trial
By Nehal El-Sherif, dpa
Cairo (dpa) - A court in Cairo on Tuesday convicted all 43 defendants from a group of non-governmental organizations charged with operating without licenses and receiving illegal foreign funding.
They were handed jail sentences ranging from one to five years and each fined 1,000 Egyptian pounds (143 dollars).
The verdict drew international condemnation and accusations that President Mohammed Morsi has not fully embraced democratic values and human rights.
The case began in December 2011, when the country was under military rule following the overthrow of Hosny Mubarak earlier that year. At the time, police and prosecutors raided the offices of 17 organizations across Egypt, detaining employees and seizing computer files.
The trial of the 43 workers, including 19 US and two German citizens, began in February 2012. Most of the foreign defendants had left Egypt in March 2012, when a court dropped a travel ban against them, and were tried in absentia.
The employees worked for one German group, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, and four US-based organizations: the National Democratic Institute (NDI); the International Republican Institute (IRI); the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ); and Freedom House.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said he was "shocked and greatly disturbed by the harsh judgments" of the court.
"The actions of the Egyptian judiciary are worrying. It weakens civil society, an important pillar of democracy in a new democratic Egypt," he said.
Hisham Seif-Eldin, the charge d'affaires at Egypt's embassy in Berlin, was summoned to the Foreign Ministry after the verdict to hear a protest. Emily Haber, a state secretary, told him Germany was upset at the ruling.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said the verdict was "incompatible with the transition to democracy" and criticized the trial as "politically motivated."
"The decision to close these organizations' offices and seize their assets contradicts the government of Egypt's commitments to support the role of civil society as a fundamental actor in a democracy," Kerry said.
The court ordered that the Egyptian branches of the five organizations be dissolved, their offices be closed and their assets and documents confiscated.
Twenty-seven were sentenced to five years in absentia, including the IRI Egypt director, Sam LaHood, who is the son of US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.
Five of the defendants, including NDI's Robert Becker and the US-Egyptian Sherif Mansour - who used to work for Freedom House - were sentenced to two years, while 11 Egyptians received a one-year suspended sentence each.
All of the defendants have the right to appeal.
David J. Kramer, the president of Freedom House, said the case was a "disgrace" and was "motivated purely by corrupt and anti-democratic behaviour and a determination to shut down civil society."
The case has strained relations between Egypt and the United States, one of Cairo's main allies in the Middle East.
The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces - which ruled Egypt for 16 months after the fall of Mubarak in 2011 - is heavily dependent on the US, since it receives around 1.3 billion dollars in annual aid.
"The ruling is clear evidence of the hostility of President Mohammed Morsi's regime and government to democracy and human rights," said Gamal Eid, the director of the Cairo-based Arabic Network for Human Rights Information group.
"Human rights organizations will continue to work and authorities have to either respect their international obligations and pass a fair law that ensures civil society organizations do their jobs, or else, arrest all human rights activists," he told dpa.
One of the convicted defendants, Nancy Okail, said: “I am deeply disappointed by today’s verdict but, unfortunately, not surprised.
"How can the international community believe [Morsi] is committed to democracy when he has shut down groups and jailed staff who were helping Egyptians participate in shaping their country’s future?” asked Okail, who is the director of Egypt programs at Freedom House.
The verdict comes days after 40 local NGOs criticized a new draft law that they say "seeks to curb the right to freedom of association through legal restrictions even more severe than those imposed by the Mubarak regime."
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton has also criticized the draft bill.
