An investigation that has lasted for over a decade into four nongovernmental organizations accused of receiving foreign funding to harm national security is to be dropped, after a judge ruled on Thursday that there was insufficient evidence to press charges, according to Negad al-Borai, lawyer and head of the United Group law firm and a former defendant in the case.
Charges will accordingly be dropped against the Ibn Khaldoun Center for Development Studies, Development Institutionalization Support Center, Nazra for Feminist Studies and a fourth NGO referred to by the judge as Al Salam Center for Human Development.
Founders from the four organizations who were investigated in the case will also be relieved from associated legal restrictions such as travel bans or asset freezes, the judge ordered. However, Nazra founder Mozn Hassan told Mada Masr that, “we have yet to actually see our personal and NGOs’ assets unfrozen and travel bans lifted.”
A government source told Mada Masr in July that a number of the civil society workers will not have their travel bans lifted even if they are completely cleared of all charges in the case, and that some will likely face new charges related to their finances. The source claimed that “the authorities have evidence of legal violations in the financial transactions of several organizations supervised by those named in Case 173.”
Hassan said she was not informed of the decision and only learned about it from the news. “Though this of course is good news, it is important to note that several other NGOs are still not acquitted from these charges, including the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, Al-Nadeem Center For Management & Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence, and the Arab Network for Human Rights Information, to name a few.”
Several founders of NGOs that were investigated in the case, known as Case 173, were summoned for questioning in July this year for the first time since the investigation was opened a decade ago.
Thursday’s ruling brings the total number of acquittals in the case to 75 NGOs and some 220 activists and employees. The total number of NGOs that have been investigated is unknown.
In late 2011, the Egyptian authorities raided 17 NGOs working on democracy and rights issues. Two years later, an Egyptian court ordered that several international NGOs be closed and handed down sentences to the defendants on charges of operating illegally in the country.
At least 13 high-profile civil society figures have been subject to travel bans in relation to the investigation since 2016. They lost a 2019 appeal against those measures, despite lawyers pointing out that travel bans cannot legally be imposed for over two years, and that in the absence of documented evidence from the prosecution, the travel ban is both unconstitutional and illegal.
