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发帖数: 3096 | 1 CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian investigating judges on Sunday 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 U.S.-funded groups promoting democracy
and human rights. The two countries have been close allies for more than
three decades, but the campaign against the organizations has angered
Washington, and jeopardized the more than $1 billion in annual aid Egypt
receives from the U.S.
On Saturday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham 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, responded Sunday by
saying 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 Munich,
Germany.
Those referred to trial included five Serbs, two Germans and three non-
Egyptian Arab nationals, according to the security officials, speaking on
condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the
media. Among the 19 Americans is Sam LaHood, the head of the Egypt office of
the Washington-based International Republican Institute and the son of U.S.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.
All 43 have also been banned from leaving the country. A date has yet to be
set for the start of 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 the
ouster nearly a year ago of Hosni Mubarak, a close U.S. ally who ruled Egypt
for nearly 30 years. 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
destabilize the country.
Those allegations have cost the activists behind Mubarak's ouster support
among a wider public that is sensitive to foreign meddling and which sees a
conspiracy to destabilize Egypt in nearly every move by a foreign nation.
Already, Egyptian authorities are 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.
Sunday's decision also slapped a travel ban on all 43 NGO workers referred
to trial. |
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