Your tax dollars at work. Egypt's Forces Raid Offices of Nonprofits, 3 Backed by U.S. David D. Kirkpatrick and J. David Goodman, New York Times, December 29, 2011 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/30/world/middleeast/egypts-forces-raid-offices-of-us-and-other-civil-groups.html
Cairo - Egyptian security forces stormed 17 offices of nonprofit groups around the country on Thursday, including at least three democracy-promotion groups financed by the United States, as part of an investigation that the military rulers say will reveal foreign hands in the recent outbreak of protests. In Cairo, heavily armed men wearing the black uniforms of the central security police tore through boxes, hauled away files and computers and prevented employees from leaving offices of two of the American groups, the National Democratic Institute and the International Republican Institute, which are affiliated with American political parties and financed by the United States government. The security forces also raided the offices of the Washington-based Freedom House. The raids were a stark escalation in what has appeared to be a campaign by the country's military rulers to rally support by playing to nationalist and anti-American sentiment here. "General prosecutor & central security stormed N.D.I. office in Cairo & Assiut," an employee of the National Democratic Institute wrote in a text message from inside its offices. "We are confined here as they're searching and clearing out office." [...] Human rights advocates have urged the Egyptian government to drop its investigation into foreign funding of civil society, which prosecutors have described as treason. A September report by state security prosecutors identified what it said were more than two dozen unregistered groups receiving foreign funding and operating in Egypt. By the country's law on associations, the violation is punishable with imprisonment. The Republican and Democratic institutes have worked openly since 2005 and had been assisting with election monitoring during the country's parliamentary vote. In separate statements on Thursday, the two groups said they were troubled by the sudden raids on their offices. "Cracking down on organizations whose sole purpose is to support the democratic process during Egypt's historic transition sends a disturbing signal," the N.D.I. president Kenneth Wollack was quoted as saying. The statement from the International Republican Institute was even more direct. "It is ironic that even during the Mubarak era I.R.I. was not subjected to such aggressive action," the group said. -- Robert Naiman Policy Director Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org [email protected] _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
