U.S. Congressmen Pen Letter on NGO Raids

Eleven U.S. senators co-signed a bipartisan letter to Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, the head of Egypt’s ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), criticizing the raids on the offices of over a dozen nongovernmental organizations by Egyptian police and military. Several of the NGOs raided late last December were funded by the U.S. government. The senators said “we  write to strongly condemn the recent raids by your government’s security forces” and demanded that the offices be reopened, their property returned, and the investigations into their activities ended. The letter reminded Tantawi that the Congress’ 2012 appropriations bill conditions continued U.S. aid to Egypt on the SCAF achieving certain democratization benchmarks. The senators’ message came a week after 28 members of the U.S. House of Representatives issued a similar bipartisan letter condemning the NGO raids.