Egypt freezes assets of leading rights campaigners

An Egyptian court on Saturday upheld a decision to freeze the assets of several prominent human rights campaigners in the latest blow to a once-vibrant activist community that has been largely silenced by a government crackdown. They face life sentences of up to 25 years each if found guilty. Many believe this action is politically motivated.

The five campaigners were swept up in a wider case against at least 12 rights groups that dates back to 2011, but which was revived previous year.

As NPR’s Leila Fadel has reported, “many activists in Egypt say the country is going through the most repressive time in its modern history”.

“The increased pressure on independent Egyptian civil society, in particular human rights organizations and defenders, is not in line with Egypt’s commitments to promote and respect human rights and fundamental freedoms as guaranteed by its Constitution and enshrined in the EU-Egypt Association Agreement, which is the basis for our partnership”, the statement reads.

The court also approved asset freezes for three organisations and their directors; the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies and its director Bahey el-din Hassan, the Hisham Mubarak Law Center and its director Mostafa al-Hassan, and the Egyptian Right to Education Center and its director Abdelhafiz Tayel.

The UN also urged Cairo to make good on a pledge to adopt a new NGO law, calling for it to be legislation which “fully complies with Egypt’s global human rights obligations”.

They face charges of illegally receiving foreign funds and using them to harm national security.

In 2013, a court ordered the closure of several foreign pro-democracy groups, including US -based Freedom House, and gave jail sentences to 43 NGO staff including 15 Americans who had fled the country.

“We are calling for this unjust ruling to be quashed with immediate effect, and for the Egyptian authorities to cease their harassment of these human rights defenders and members of their families”, the group’s Philip Luther said in a statement. Fifteen of the NGO staff were foreigners and tried in absentia. An investigation was launched into civil society groups in the months after Mubarak’s ouster when the military were in charge and a widespread crackdown on activists began.

Saturday’s decision came ahead of a visit by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a former army chief whose government is accused by rights groups of violations, to NY for United Nations General Assembly on September 20. The status of EIPR and ANHRI’s assets remains unclear; while the judge did not mention them in court, they could still be linked to the individuals whose assets were frozen today.