Egypt's new law muzzles rights groups

Cairo 30 Nov (ANA) - The Egyptian parliament on Tuesday approved a new law regulating non-governmental organizations that gives security agencies extensive power over the financing and activities of NGOs and rights groups. Rights organizations condemned the law as one of Egypt's most repressive ever on civil society, saying it would effectively shut down many such groups. Supporters of the bill called it a necessary regulation to protect the country's security, but critics said it was part of a widening crackdown on dissent under the government of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. Under the law, which must still be ratified by the president, those that violate administrative rules governing such groups could face up to five years in prison and heavy fines of up to 1 million Egyptian pounds (around $55,000). Under the rules, groups must get state permission to receive foreign funding or local donations of more than 10,000 pounds (about $550) or even relocate headquarters or carry out research and surveys. The permissions will be provided solely by a newly created oversight body made up of several government agencies and security apparatuses such as the intelligence agency, and the ministries of defense and interior. Rights groups advocating against police abuses and defending freedom of speech will find themselves having to seek authorizations from the very security apparatuses whose practices they routinely condemn. "There will be a massacre for rights groups and NGOs," said Mohamed Zaree, manager of Egypt's oldest rights group, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies. Since the overthrow of Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak in mass uprising in 2011, Egypt's rights groups have faced a heavy security crackdown. State media have waged a concerted campaign accusing them of fueling instability and acting as a "fifth column" for Western countries to carry out foreign agendas. Elected in 2014 after leading the military's ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, el-Sissi has carried out a wide crackdown on opposition, mainly on Islamists but also targeting secular critics. Just a few months after the 2011 uprising, security forces raided 17 offices of mostly foreign NGOs and referred 43 people, including American citizens, to trial for violating laws governing the organizations. Most of the defendants fled the country and were sentenced in absentia. This year, the authorities revived the same case and have targeted a string of leading rights activists, freezing their assets and banning them from travel while putting them under criminal investigations. If found guilty of illegally receiving foreign funds, or other charges linked to harming national security, they would face sentences that could reach life imprisonment.(ANA)