By Nourhan Dakroury
All 43 non-governmental organisation (NGO) employees accused of illegally receiving foreign funding were sentenced on Tuesday to one to five years in prison with a fine of EGP 1,000 each.
The court also ordered the closure of branch offices of the International Republican Institute (IRI), the National Democratic Institute (NDI), Freedom House, the International Centre for Journalists (ICFJ) and the German Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Organisation.
The trial has been ongoing since December 2011, when security forces raided the offices of several NGOs throughout Egypt.
All but one foreign defendant left the country in March 2012 after former judge and Cairo Appeals Court Chairman Abdel Moez Ibrahim suggested lifting their travel ban.
American Robert Becker chose to remain in Egypt and face the trial.
