An Egyptian court on Tuesday sentenced 43 non-government organisations’ workers, including the son of the US secretary of transportation and 15 other Americans, to prison in a case against foreign-funded pro-democracy groups.
Of the 43 defendants, 27 received five-year jail terms. Another five received two years while 11, all of them Egyptian, got suspended one-year sentences.
The ruling and heavy jail time of up to five years deepen worries over the operations of non-governmental organisations in Egypt as parliament considers a bill proposed by Islamist President Mohammed Morsi that critics warn will profoundly restrict their activities.
The verdict was strongly denounced by the US, with Secretary of State John Kerry and a host of powerful lawmakers expressing their outrage and berating the trial and the verdict as politically motivated and incompatible with Egypt’s transition to democratic rule.
The defendants were convicted on charges of receiving foreign funds to foment unrest in Egypt. The charges were rooted in claims that the non-profit groups, which were working in various forms of democracy training, were fueling protests in 2011 against the military, which took power after the fall of autocrat Hosni Mubarak in February that year.
The verdict, read out by judge Makram Awad, also ordered the closure of the offices and seizure of the assets in Egypt belonging to the US nonprofit groups and a German organisation for which many of the defendants worked. These are the International Republican Institute, the National Democratic Institute, Freedom House, a centre for training journalists, and Germany’s Konrad Adenauer Foundation.
All but one of the Americans were sentenced in absentia because they had long left the country, including Sam LaHood, son of the US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. He received a five-year jail term.
The only American defendant who remained in Egypt throughout the trial was Robert Becker, who was sentenced to two years. He left on a flight to Rome on Tuesday just hours after the verdict was announced, according to a Cairo airport official who spoke on condition of anonymity
In Egypt, defendants tried in absentia typically are convicted and receive the maximum sentence for a specific offence. However, if they return and give themselves up, they also get an automatic retrial.
On trial beside the Egyptians and Americans were eight other foreigners, of Serbian, Palestinian, Lebanese, and other nationalities.
In a statement, Kerry said closing the offices and seizure of the assets of the groups “contradicts the Government of Egypt’s commitments to support the role of civil society as a fundamental actor in a democracy and contributor to development, especially at this critical stage in the Egyptian people’s democratic transition”.
Egypt and the United States have been close allies for more than three decades, with the Egyptian military receiving more than $1bn in aid annually. The aid is linked to Egypt’s adherence to the American-mediated 1979 peace treaty with Israel, Washington’s closest Middle East ally. Besides the $1.3bn in US military aid, Egypt also receives about $250m in economic aid every year.