Egypt sends 43 NGO workers to trial for receiving foreign cash

Egyptian investigating judges yesterday referred 43 NGO workers, including 19 Americans, to trial before a criminal court for allegedly being involved in banned activities and illegally receiving foreign funds, security officials said.

The decision marked a sharp escalation in a dispute between Cairo and Washington over Egypt’s crackdown on US-funded groups promoting democracy and human rights.

The campaign against the organisations has angered Washington, and jeopardised the more than $1bn in annual aid Egypt receives from the US.

On Saturday, secretary of state Hillary Clinton warned Egypt’s foreign minister that failure to resolve the dispute may lead to the loss of American aid.

The Egyptian minister, Mohammed Amr, yesterday said the government cannot interfere in the work of the judiciary.

“We are doing our best to contain this but... we cannot actually exercise any influence on the investigating judges right now when it comes to the investigation,” Amr told reporters at a security conference in Germany.

Those referred to trial included five Serbs, two Germans and three non-Egyptian Arab nationals, according to the security officials.

Among the 19 Americans is Sam LaHood, head of the Egypt office of the Washington-based International Republican Institute and the son of US transportation secretary Ray LaHood.

All 43 have also been banned from leaving the country. A date has yet to be set for the trial.

The Egyptian investigation into the work of NGOs in the country is closely linked with the political turmoil that has engulfed the nation since Hosni Mubarak was ousted nearly a year ago.

The generals who took power after Mubarak’s fall have accused “foreign hands” of being behind protests against their rule and frequently depict the protesters as receiving funds from abroad in a plot to destabilise the country.

Egyptian authorities are already preventing at least six Americans and four Europeans from leaving the country, citing a probe opened last month when heavily armed security forces raided the offices of 17 pro-democracy and rights groups.

Egyptian officials have defended the raid as part of a legitimate investigation into the groups’ work and funding.