An Egyptian court on September 17 approved a freeze on the assets of five human rights defenders and three nongovernmental organizations in a case in which the NGOs are accused of receiving foreign funds to sow chaos, Reuters reported.
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Saturday’s decision means the five human rights workers could face criminal charges that carry potential sentences of 25 years to life in prison, Al Jazeera reported. Many believe this action is politically motivated.
An investigating magistrate ordered the asset freezes in February, but they were subject to court approval. Until we’re completely banned from defending human rights, we will not give up our role and we will continue.
“Egypt’s global partners and should speak up now to prevent the disappearance of independent human rights groups”, Fakih said.
The European Union said on Monday that the Egyptian government’s decision to freeze the assets of rights activists in Egypt will directly affect the work of civil society organizations, adding that the decision violates Egypt’s global obligations in the field of human rights, according to Aswat Masriya.
The court also froze the assets of three organisations and their directors; the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies and its director Bahey el-din Hassan, the Hisham Mubarak Law Center and its director Mostafa al-Hassan, and the Egyptian Right to Education Center and its director Abdelhafiz Tayel.
“The Egyptian authorities are using this case as a way to crush the country’s human rights movement”.
In 2013, a court ordered the closure of several foreign pro-democracy groups, including US -based Freedom House, and gave jail sentences to 43 NGO staff including 15 Americans who had fled the country.
The ruling violates Egypt’s obligations toward promoting human rights and fundamental freedoms as guaranteed by the Constitution and the Egyptian-European agreements, according to the statement. Most of the foreigners were tried in absentia. The status of EIPR and ANHRI’s assets remains unclear; while the judge did not mention them in court, they could still be linked to the individuals whose assets were frozen today.
The initial probe into foreign funding was launched following the 2011 popular uprising that led to the overthrow of former dictator Hosni Mubarak.
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Authorities have jailed thousands of people, mainly Islamists but also leading secular and liberal activists.
