Joint Statement
On 22 August 2023, the Egyptian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) issued a statement
announcing the dismissal of criminal cases against 75 of the
organizations investigated in the infamous civil society “Foreign
Funding” Case 173 of 2011, with ten other organizations remaining under
investigation.
The
MoJ’s recent statement, however, does not indicate any change to the
status of the case since 2021, when the Egyptian government made the
same announcement on closing the investigation against the same 75
predominantly developmental and charity organizations. Currently, more
than 20 human rights defenders, belonging to the organizations most
critical of the human rights record in Egypt, remain under punitive
measures imposed through the case, including asset freezes and travel
bans. The undersigned organizations demand that Egyptian authorities
comprehensively close Case 173 and cease their targeting of independent
civil society organizations and human rights defenders.
Case
173 emanated from a 2011 decision by the Egyptian Cabinet delegating
the MoJ to initiate an investigation on the foreign funding of civil
society organizations. In June 2013, 43 international NGO workers,
including American citizens, were convicted
to prison terms ranging from one to five years, and were later
acquitted in a retrial in 2018 after pressure from the United States. In
2016, Case 173 was expanded to include Egyptian civil society
organizations, and subsequently more than 30 Egyptian human rights
defenders were banned from traveling and subjected to asset freezes.
After seven years, despite the government’s closure of the case against
some Egyptian organizations, the majority of those banned from traveling
in 2016 remain on the ban list, including some of those for whom
investigations have been closed. Additionally, the assets of some of
those who are no longer on the travel ban list remain frozen Their
situation remains unaffected by the recent statement of the MoJ, which
seeks to ease international criticism of Egypt’s human rights record.
Closing
Case 173 is a matter of political will, as exemplified by the acquittal
of 43 international organizations’ staff in a retrial in 2018. If the
Egyptian authorities genuinely intend to end restrictions imposed on
independent civil society, they should immediately and comprehensively
close Case 173, bring Egypt’s law on civic associations to conformity with international standards, and stop targeting human rights defenders through other draconian legislation. Egyptian authorities should also release imprisoned human rights defenders, including Ibrahim Metwally and members
of the Egyptian Coordination for Rights and Freedoms.
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