A judge assigned the mission of investigating charges of unlawful foreign funding against a number of local civil society organizations dropped the charges against these organizations on Thursday due to the lack of evidence.
Justice, Ali Mukhtar, of the Cairo Appeals Court said there was not enough evidence to incriminate the local civil society organizations Ibn Khaldoun Center for Development Studies, the Center for Development Support and Institutional Rehabilitation, the Peace Center for Human Development, and Nazra Association for Feminist Studies.
The charges against these organizations were widely known in the media as ‘Case No. 173 of 2011’.
They included the obtainment of unlawful financing by these organizations from foreign agencies and some countries.
Justice Mukhtar said in a statement that he had decided to drop the charges against these NGOs after digging deeply into the case.
We could not find, he said, enough evidence against these organizations.
He noted that the presumptions included in the charges were not enough to constitute a criminal case against them.
The decision to drop the charges against these NGOs is expected to entail a number of moves in the coming period, including the removal of their officials from travel ban lists.
People working in these NGOs will also be removed from arrival watch lists and given freedom to use their bank accounts and assets.
Justice Mukhtar noted that the new decision brings the number of NGOs cleared of foreign funding charges in the past period up to 75.
Over 220 people, he said, were accused in the case.
He noted that the government has an obligation to support the civil society, given the importance of the role it plays in society.
“The civil society also has to perform this role within the provisions of the constitution and the law,” Justice Mukhtar said in his statement.
He said civil society organizations have an obligation to operate without violating the sovereignty of the Egyptian state or posing threats to social unity.
The judiciary, he said, is a symbol of the sovereignty of the state.
Justice Mukhtar called on NGOs operating in Egypt to maintain their mission in serving the Egyptian society and legalize their work in the light of Cabinet Decree no. 104/2021 which includes the rules that regulate the work of civil society organizations according to Law no. 149/2019.
