By Mark McMurray
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East
CAIRO, Egypt — On Tuesday, the trial of forty-three non-governmental organization (NGO) workers was adjourned until the first week of July. The delay follows a hearing which dealt with the procedural aspects related to the case. The trial has stirred fears that Egyptian authorities will continue to crackdown on civil rights activists operating within the country.
All of the accused deny the government’s charges of receiving illegal funds from foreign governments and organizations and operating within the country without proper permits. The charges originate from the work conducted by the NGOs last year, prior to the parliamentary elections. Authorities claim the work undertaken by the NGOs, focused primarily on civil society and pro-democracy issues, was a plot to promote unrest following the fall of former President Hosni Mubarak’s regime. When the trial resumes, the aid workers face up to six years in prison if they are found guilty.
The diverse group includes nineteen U.S. nationals and fourteen Egyptians, with the remaining defendants hailing from a variety of European and Arab countries. At the hearing on Tuesday, only seventeen defendants were present: the fourteen Egyptians, two Americans, and a German national. Those defendants present in court were released until the trial resumes. The others elected not to return for the hearing. They left Egypt when their travel ban was lifted.
U.S.-Egyptian relations have been strained as a result of the accusations. In response to the charges, forty-one members of the U.S. Congress sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. The letter urged the administration to withhold aid to Egypt, including $1.3 billion in yearly military aid, until Egyptian leadership allowed the offices of the NGOs to reopen and returned seized property. Seeking to ease tensions, Egyptian authorities lifted a travel ban that was imposed in March, allowing the accused Americans to leave the country. The maneuvering was seen as a way to avoid having a trial, as it was unlikely that those who left would return to stand trial.
However, Robert Becker, an American working with the U.S.-based National Democratic Institute, elected to remain in Egypt to stand trial. Becker, who was present at the hearing on Tuesday, explained his reasoning for staying within the country. “I keep saying captains stay with their crew. There is no way that I would be able to live with myself being safely in the United States if they were potentially facing a jail term,” he said.
Lawyers for the defendants made a number of requests during Tuesday’s court proceeding. These included requests to have defense witnesses be allowed to give testimony, to have the documents seized from the NGOs during raids translated into Arabic, and to have Egyptian officials give testimony in court. With Egyptian officials slated to testify at the trial, Becker told the Los Angeles Times that the evidence “against us doesn’t match what we were doing,” and that the Egyptian government was undertaking a “demonization of NGOs.”
For further information, please see:
Christian Science Monitor – In Egypt, American NGO Workers Head to Court in Civil Society Trial – 5 June 2012
CNN – Trial of NGO Workers Set to Resume in Egypt – 5 June 2012
Egypt Independent – Defense Witnesses Can Give Testimony in Next NGO Trial Session, Court Rules – 5 June 2012
Los Angeles Times – New Trial Date Set for Pro-democracy Activists in Egypt – 5 June 2012
Washington Post – Hearing in Egypt NGO Case Resumes Tuesday – 4 June 2012
