Crisis in Tahrir

Egypt security forces storm Freedom House, other NGO offices

| 29 December 2011 | Comments (3)

Egypt police putting down protest.

CAIRO: Egyptian security forces have stormed the offices of a number of local and international NGOs and human rights organizations, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies reported on Thursday.

The security forces, dressed in both uniforms and plainclothes, forced their way into the offices of the Arab Center for Independence of Justice and Legal Professions (ACIJP), The Budgetary and Human Rights Observatory, The National Democratic Institute’s (NDI) Cairo and Assiut offices, the International Republic Institute (IRI), Freedom House and Konrad Adenauer.

According to the statement from the Cairo institute, the employees of the organizations are now under investigation by the public prosecutor and police are going through their papers, laptops and computers on the scene.

Staff members of the six organizations have been warned from using their cell phones, laptops and computers; and are being isolated from contact with the outside world.

In essence, they are being held prisoner inside their offices.

Additionally, with regards to the ACIJP office at least, “authorities restricted access to the entire building, preventing people from entering or exiting the building.”

CIHRS said that the move is part of the ruling military junta’s “campaign” against civil society and human rights groups in Egypt. In recent months, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) has accused local NGOs of receiving money from abroad, and have argued to the public that the recent unrest in the country is by “foreign hands.”

“The NDI, IRI, and Freedom House have been previously investigated by the ministry of justice on charges of receiving foreign funding, while the Arab Center for the Independence of Justice and Legal Professions has not been yet investigated,” said CIHRS.

Investigations of the Budgetary and Human Rights Observatory was due to start on Sunday.

“The storming of NGO offices is an unprecedented move in the recent history of Egyptian NGOs. In February 2011, during the 18 days Egyptian revolution, Military Police have stormed the office of Hisham Mubarak Law Center (an Egyptian NGO based in Cairo) and arrested several of its members as well as staff members of other international organizations that were present at the scene,” the statement continued.

BM

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  • Egyptman18

    I see this as a completely logical response to what is going on at the moment and am surprised that this is all the regime is doing. Foreigners are VERY prominent in Tahrir and have been since the onset, and a number of cases and videos have surfaced showing “neutral” foreign photographers, journalists, and others actively participating in the protests and anti-police action. Not to mention that some of the country’s largest pro-’Democracy’ activists: Baradei, Saad el Din Ibrahim, Ala Aswany, George Ishaq, and a countless list of others have spent decades in the US, received millions in direct funding from the United States to promote their fight, and are even more well known and respected amongst Western/American audiences than in their own country.

  • Redasobky

    There is insufficient awareness of how actions play out abroad. Action after action producing the most negative image possible for Egypt abroad, for what? does anybody really think these organizations are a problem? Much bigger is the wahabi money flowing through charity fronts to the those who have suddenly appeared wanting to inflict their delusions on the entire society. It seems that the very process of governing through repression and manipulation leads the power structure to make a sequence of judgment errors that inevitably expose it and bring it down. How Is Beloved Egypt to break out of this hellish cycle of tyrannical rule and failure. does any credible person believe that the old guard from whatever camp can bring us the freshness and creativity needed for the rejuvenation of our collective social process away from either slave or master but rather as free beings engaged together in the grat enrterprise of rebuilding a society that can be left with pride to a new generation.