CAIRO — Egyptian
authorities on Thursday raided the offices of 17 domestic and
international human rights and pro-democracy organizations, including
several that receive U.S. government funding, in a sharp intensification
of the military's crackdown that recalled the tactics of the country's
ousted authoritarian president, Hosni Mubarak. The raids in Cairo and
other cities appeared to be an effort by the ruling military to
intimidate nongovernmental organizations that it accuses of promoting a
"foreign agenda" and supporting protests against its rule. Dozens of
police officers, military personnel and judicial officials held and
interrogated staff members for several hours, confiscated computers and
documents, and closed at least five of the offices, the agencies said.
They said the searches were conducted without warrants.
Read more here: http://www.sunherald.com/2011/12/29/3656403/egypt-crackdown-escalates-with.html#storylink=cpy
CAIRO — Egyptian authorities on Thursday raided the offices of 17
domestic and international human rights and pro-democracy organizations,
including several that receive U.S. government funding, in a sharp
intensification of the military's crackdown that recalled the tactics of
the country's ousted authoritarian president, Hosni Mubarak.
The
raids in Cairo and other cities appeared to be an effort by the ruling
military to intimidate nongovernmental organizations that it accuses of
promoting a "foreign agenda" and supporting protests against its rule.
Dozens of police officers, military personnel and judicial officials
held and interrogated staff members for several hours, confiscated
computers and documents, and closed at least five of the offices, the
agencies said. They said the searches were conducted without warrants.
"The raids today represent an escalation of repression unheard-of even
during the Mubarak regime," said David J. Kramer, the president of
Freedom House, a U.S.-based pro-democracy group whose offices in Cairo
were among those raided.
"These actions come in the context of an
intensive campaign by the Egyptian government to dismantle civil
society through a politically motivated legal campaign aimed at
preventing 'illegal foreign funding' of civil society operations in
Egypt."
