By Marwa Awad and Sherine El Madany
(Reuters) – Egyptian prosecutors and police raided offices of 17 pro-democracy and human rights groups on Thursday – drawing criticism from the United States which hinted it could review its $1.3 billion in annual military aid.
The official MENA news agency said the groups had been searched in an investigation into foreign funding.
“The public prosecutor has searched 17 civil society organizations, local and foreign, as part of the foreign funding case,” MENA cited the prosecutor’s office as saying. “The search is based on evidence showing violation of Egyptian laws including not having permits.”
Among groups targeted were the local offices of the U.S.-based International Republican Institute (IRI) and National Democratic Institute (NDI), a security source and employees at the organizations said.
The U.S. State Department said the raids were “inconsistent with the bilateral cooperation we have had over many years” and urged Egyptian authorities to immediately halt “harassment” of non-governmental organization staff.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland indicated to a news briefing that military aid could be difficult to push through Congress if the situation did not improve.
“We do have a number of new reporting and transparency requirements on funding to Egypt that we have to make to Congress,” Nuland said. “The Egyptian government is well aware of that and it certainly needs to be aware of that in the context of how quickly this issue gets resolved.”
Nuland said U.S. officials had been in touch with Egyptian Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri and with Egypt’s ambassador to Washington to underscore Washington’s concern.
Germany’s Foreign Ministry said it would summon Egypt’s ambassador to Berlin on Friday after the raid targeted the German-based Konrad Adenauer Foundation, which is close to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats.
CRITICISM OF ARMY
Civil society groups, a driving force behind the protests that toppled President Hosni Mubarak in February, have become increasingly vocal in criticizing what they call the army’s heavy-handed tactics in dealing with street unrest.
“This is a campaign the military council has launched to defame and stigmatize activists, rights groups and the various forces that have participated in the making of the January 25 revolution,” said 27 civil society groups in a joint statement.
The groups added that such a campaign was “unprecedented even in the era of Mubarak and aimed to cover the failures of the military council in its management of the transitional period.”
The ruling generals have pledged to stand aside by mid-2012 but many democracy activists say the military is keen to preserve its privileges and broad business interests.
One analyst said the crackdown on civil society groups was an attempt to stymie the protest movement.
“Civil society groups and the media are the two pillars of a successful revolution, because they are radical in their demands. The military council launches intermittent attacks to contain them,” said analyst and researcher Yasser Abdel Aziz.
The U.S. State Department comments followed stinging criticism by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over the “systematic degradation” of women during protests in Cairo this month in which 17 people were killed.
Images of troops beating demonstrators as they lay on the ground brought thousands of Egyptians onto the streets in protest. The harsh treatment of women protesters attracted particular attention.
The National Democratic Institute (NDI)said in an e-mailed statement that the raid took place on its offices in Cairo, Alexandria and Assiut, from where police confiscated equipment and documents.
“Cracking down on organizations whose sole purpose is to support the democratic process during Egypt’s historic transition sends a disturbing signal,” NDI President Kenneth Wollack was quoted as saying.
One person working at NDI, who gave her name as Rawda, said: “They are grabbing all the papers and laptops.”
A Reuters television reporter who approached the offices of the International Republican Institute (IRI) in central Cairo found the doors sealed shut with wax and saw several police vehicles driving away from the area.
The NDI and IRI, which are loosely associated with the U.S. Democratic and Republican political parties and receive U.S. government funding, say they take a neutral political stance, fostering democracy in Egypt by training members of nascent parties in democratic processes.
CAMPAIGN
Other groups that were raided included U.S.-based Freedom House and local groups set up to defend judicial independence, individual freedoms and democracy, according to the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights.
“This looks like a campaign against human rights defenders,” said prominent Egyptian rights activist Negad al-Borai. He said similar campaigns happened during Mubarak’s three-decade rule.
“For this to happen after what we call the ‘revolution’, I am astonished.”
Egypt’s military has vowed to investigate how pro-democracy and rights organizations are funded and has said repeatedly it will not tolerate foreign interference in the country’s affairs.
Egyptian presidential hopeful and former U.N. nuclear watchdog head Mohamed ElBaradei said: “Human rights organizations are the icon of freedom … Everyone will be watching closely any illegal attempts to distort them. The revolution will prevail.”
In a way, the crack-down by the military regime that still governs Egypt, even after the election, is an encouraging development. Maybe the generals are preparing to prolong their rule and they are liquidating the NGOs.
In spite of whatever the State Department may say, it has never engineered a democratic process in Egypt. Rather, just as Carter brought Khomeini to Iran, Obama bestowed the Muslim Brotherhood upon Egypt.
The Obama administration has been stoking civil unrest against autocratic but secular leaning Arab regimes throughout North Africa. Obama who called the muezzin call to prayer “one of prettiest sounds on earth”, is determined to strengthen the rise of Islam worldwide.
Obama sees another benefit to upheaval in the Arab world. Unrest in Arab societies will be cited in order to allow a massive emigration into the West. Before Obama ends his presidency (if ever) he will bring millions of Muslims to the US. This will be done for ‘humanitarian’ reasons.
The EU as well, has been complicit in funding the supposed ‘democracy’ and Arab Spring. (See the activities of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Egypt, or other initiatives). The EU is motivated by a series of different reasons. Partly, the EU is prodded by US State Department. Partly, EU countries are trying to take advantage of the upheavals in North Africa in order to reposition for new oil & gas contracts in Arab countries. Also, EU politics are increasingly driven by their domestic Muslim voters and. European governments are trying to curry favors with Muslim clerics. Moreover, undercurrent anti-Semitism also plays a role in these politics, aligning support of Arab regimes at the expense of Israel.
Whatever these diverging reasons, the so-called ‘Arab Spring’ phenomenon is hypocritically promoted under the label of promoting democracy.
As usual, as soon as a new totalitarian regime sets in, the first to go will be the “useful idiots” that helped usher in the new revolutionaries. When Soviet troops occupied a country, they first sought out the die-hard communists to be shot or exiled to Siberia. They had no use for idealists.
The new Arab order will also get rid of these bothersome NGO meddlers.
Spot on, Sam.
Please move back. Nothing to see. No double standards here:
1. Egyptian police raid NGOs looking for proof of foreign interference. Momentary mild outrage. VS: Israel wants to tax NGOs supporting the destruction of Jewish Israel that are supported by Jew-hating foreign agents. “Fascism. End of democracy. Civil and human rights violation.”
2. Turkey kills 35 of its own innocent Kurdish citizens thinking they are terrorists. Oops. Mistake. Sorry. VS: Turkey sends armed thugs to kill Jewish Israeli soldiers defending the Gaza blockade. Jewish Israel kills nine Turks in self-defense. “United Nations. Goldstone. International War Crime.”
3. Syrian muslim minority tyrants kill 5,000 unarmed majority muslim protesters. Minor skirmish. Arab League sends in observers. No sanctions from UN Security Council. VS: Jewish Israel hunting muslim terrorists in Jenin kills 50 muslims while 23 Jewish soldiers are killed. “Massacre of helpless muslims by Jews. International war crime. UN investigation.”
4. Thousands of illegal buildings made by muslims in Israel. Silence. VS: Jewish Israel chooses to build a few hundred more rooms within an already established settlement just over the Green Line, and within the Security Fence. “Illegal, occupation, colonialism, condemnation from UN Security Council”.
5. Saudis make all women wear full body coverings all the time, refuse to let them drive or vote. Stone adulteresses to death. Silence. VS: Lone crazed ultra-Orthodox Jew yells at an 8 year old girl. “All Jews who believe in G-d are irrational superstitious throwbacks to the Dark Ages”.
If US media was actually ‘left wing’ or ‘anti imperialism’, it would loudly support Egypt’s measures against the State Department’s democracy subverting, big-lie, NGO apparati.
TENC documents quite clearly that the US supported ‘rebels’ trashed Egypt’s National Council for Women months ago, and that US media helped hide this fact. She could not possibly care any less about womens’ rights. If the army got a bit over zealous in cracking down on their pro-Islam bigots, then good for their army. *Someone* needs to do this, somewhere.