CAIRO: The Lawyers Union for Legal Studies and Democracy called on the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) to investigate alleged foreign funding of the Muslim Brotherhood group and to sack the prosecutor general, in response to the referral to court of 44 NGO workers.
The Lawyers Union’s statement made five demands, topped by an “an investigation into the funding mechanisms of the Muslim Brotherhood, including their secret accounts and questioning their members about the sources of their wealth.”
Other demands included “announcing the legal status of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is neither a legitimate religious association nor a political party even though it possesses a luxurious headquarters (worth millions of Riyals) in plain sight of the police, prosecution, judiciary and military.”
The Lawyers Union also demanded investigation of other legitimate religious institutions that receive funding from Qatar and Saudi Arabia without proper monitoring of their activities; and the removal of the current Prosecutor General Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud; as well as revealing the reason behind closing the investigation into the funds of Al-Wafd Party leader Al-Sayed Al-Badawy.
Additionally, the Union requested an investigation into what it described as a “secret visit” by the former Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood to Qatar on Dec. 26, 2011.
The statement ended by calling upon SCAF not to submit to Saudi Arabian and Gulf pressure, and to affirm that neither Qatar nor Saudi Arabia interfere in Egyptian sovereign affairs. It also demanded guarantees that the military is against corruption and is not protecting the Muslim Brotherhood or the head of Al-Wafd Party.
The statement issued by the Lawyers Union was made in light of the indictment of 44 local and foreign NGO workers, of which 36 were banned from leaving the country while four were placed on a watch-list since they are already abroad.
The list includes 19 Americans, one of whom is Sam LaHood, Egypt director of the International Republican Institute (IRI), and also the son of US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.
Also facing charges are five Serbs, two Germans, two Lebanese, one Jordanian and one Palestinian, in addition to 14 Egyptians, who have all been banned from travel or have been placed on incoming watch-lists for being currently abroad.
According to an NDI employee who has been charged but refused to reveal their identity, the NGO workers were not served court notification about the legal action taken against them. Some found out through their lawyers, while others through friends in the media or via published news reports.
“We were told that we face charges of working in an illegal organization, functioning without the required permits under Egyptian law and that we received foreign illegal funds in our personal bank accounts,” the source said.
The source also said that the charges also include conducting research and gathering information that was passed on to their US headquarters. This information was seen as instrumental in influencing the decisions of Egyptians at the polls, the source said, adding that there were still ambiguities in the phrasing, and that they were considering their next steps and their legal positions.
“I am shocked,” the source said. “We never believed it would go this far and we though that this crackdown was more about the politics at play. But this is now a large, important and serious case.”
An earlier statement was released on Sunday by IRI condemning the prosecutions, saying that they “reflected the escalating attacks against international and Egyptian democracy organizations.”
IRI’s statement further referred to a report issued by the US State Department which had noted that “Egypt’s constitution provides for an independent judiciary, but in practice the judiciary was subject to executive influence and corruption.”
The legal assaults were condemned by IRI and described as not a “legitimate judicial process,” but rather as a “politically motivated effort to squash Egypt’s growing civil society, orchestrated through the courts, in part by Mubarak-era holdovers.”
Organizations such as the IRI and the National Democratic Institute (NDI) were accused of receiving $40 million over six months to support Egypt’s transition to democracy in activities deemed in violation of Egypt’s NGO Law No. 84 of 2002.
The list released by the Ministry of Justice referring the NGOs to court included 16 individuals from NDI (seven Americans, two Lebanese, two Serbs and four Egyptians), along with 14 from the IRI (seven Americans, two Serbs, one Palestinian and four Egyptians), seven working with Freedom House (two Americans, one Jordanian and four Egyptians), five from International Center of Journalists (three Americans and two Egyptians) and two Germans with the Konrad Adenauer Stifung.
List of NGO workers/affiliations taken to court on alleged charges that include receiving illegal foreign funds and working without proper licenses:
Konrad Adenauer Stiftung
Andreas Jacobs (Germany) and Christina Baade (Germany).
International Center for Journalists (ICFJ)
Patrick Butler (US), Natasha Tynes (US), Mida Michelle (US), Yehya Zakaria (Egypt) Islam Shafiq (Egypt).
Freedom House
Charles Dan (US), Sherif Ahmed Sobhi Mansour (US), Samir Salim (Jordan), Mohamed Abdel Aziz (Egypt), Nancy Gamal Okeyl (Egypt), Basem Ali (Egypt), Magdy Moharam (Egypt).
International Republican Institute (IRI)
Sam LaHood (US), Sherine Sahany (US), Christine Angel (US) Sort Chik (Serbia), Hans Homis (Serbia), John George (US), Reeda Khedr (Palestine), Osama Azizi (US), Sian Mark (US), Elizabeth Dugan (US), Ahmed Shawqi (Egypt), Ahmed Abdel Aziz (Egypt), Ahmed Adam (Egypt), Essam Borei (Egypt).
National Democratic Institute (NDI)
Julie Hughes (US), Almadin Krotovich (Serbia), Bomeedir Milic (Serbia), Layla Gafar (US), Robert Becker (US), Kabir Moderibee (US), Mariana Koravitch (Serbia), Sitia Sia Leenhag (US), Dana Dikono (US), Ali Suleiman (Lebanon) Maron Safir (Lebanon), Michael James (US), Mohamed Ashraf (Egypt), Radwa Sayid (Egypt), Hafsa Maher (Egypt), Amgad Morsi (Egypt).
