Egypt Brings Charges to NGO Workers

Egypt announced it is prosecuting 43 people, including 19 Americans, in criminal court on charges of illegal foreign funding. The government has accused the NGOs of providing funds to opposition protestors, and despite a promise that equipment would be returned and rights would be respected, the Egyptian government has continued to push forward with trials. Sam LaHood, son of Transport Secretary Ray LaHood, is one of the many defendants in the trials. Egypt’s announcement of the trials “came a day after Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned the Egyptian Foreign Ministry that failure to quickly resolve the probe could jeopardize the more than $1.3 billion Egypt expects to get this year in U.S. aid.” The Egyptian minister, Mohammed Amr, responded to Clinton’s concerns and said, ”we are doing our best to contain this but … we cannot actually exercise any influence on the investigating judges right now when it comes to the investigation.”

Meanwhile, in the fourth day of clashes outside the Interior Ministry, protesters threw rocks at police who were guarding the building and were forced back with teargas. Many have expressed frustration over the slow transition in government and feel that there are still remnants of the Mubarak regime. They also blamed those remnants of the old regime for the stamped that killed over 70 people at the soccer match in Port Said. Lastly, Egypt’s Interior Minister  Mansour el-Essawy has ordered personnel to prepare for former President Hosni Mubarak‘s arrival at Cairo’s Tora prison hospital facility. Mubarak is currently being held at a military hospital on the outskirts of Cairo.