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              Egypt Rights Groups Fear Government Crackdown Looms

   by Reuters

   Some Egyptian human rights groups shredded documents on Sunday and
   instructed their staff to stay home as a government deadline approached
   for them to register under a Hosni Mubarak-era law they say seeks to
   eliminate them.

   Egypt's government says groups doing the work of non-governmental
   organizations (NGOs) but not registered as such must correct their
   status by Monday to comply with a 2002 law it is enforcing while it
   works on new legislation for the sector.

   Human rights groups say the push to enforce the old law aims to
   restrict their activities and funding, raising concerns that President
   Abdel Fattah al-Sissi's government is rolling back freedoms won in the
   2011 uprising that ousted Mubarak.

   "Whatever happens, I don't think that the human rights movement in
   Egypt is going to be able to work safely," Mohamed Zaree, program
   director at the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS), told
   Reuters.

   He said his group had never tried to register under the 2002 law and
   refused to do so now because it was "a death sentence for our
   independence."

   Contacted by Reuters on Sunday, neither the Social Solidarity Ministry,
   which is responsible for NGOs, nor the presidential spokesman were
   immediately available for comment.

   But Social Solidarity Minister Ghada Wali told Reuters last month that
   the state could not let groups operate unregulated pending a new NGOs
   law that could take months.

   She sought to assuage fears that her ministry would use the 2002 law to
   starve critical NGOs of funding, saying that from June 30, 2013, to
   September 30, 2014, it had approved 812 grants to 500 NGOs from 540
   donors totaling 835 million Egyptian pounds.

   But she also said the government would begin going after improperly
   registered organizations once the deadline passed.

   The government's deadline comes as executives from more than 60 U.S.
   businesses visit Cairo for a major investment summit.

   Foreign investors have looked positively on initial economic reforms
   enacted by Sissi, who has pledged to revive the economy and combat an
   Islamist insurgency. He has been less specific on upholding the rights
   many Egyptians rose up to demand in 2011.

   Since toppling elected president Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim
   Brotherhood last year, Sissi has presided over a fierce crackdown on
   dissent that has seen many thousands jailed.

   Though most targeted in the crackdown were Morsi supporters, liberal
   and secular activists are now also behind bars - many of them charged
   with violating a new law that limits protest.

   The political climate means trust is low between the government and
   civil society in Egypt. Some groups have felt particularly exposed
   since late 2011, when authorities raided 17 local and international
   pro-democracy and rights groups accusing them of joining a foreign
   conspiracy against Egypt.

   Some groups have refused to register under the 2002 law because it
   enables tight state control over the activities and finances of
   registered groups. Others are registered as civil companies or law
   firms because the government never approved their applications under
   the 2002 law.

   `Climate of fear'

   Rights defenders interviewed on Sunday said they were taking
   precautions such as temporarily closing their offices or working from
   home. Speaking on condition of anonymity, two groups said they had
   destroyed documents in anticipation of a raid.

   Amnesty International's Egypt researcher Nicholas Piachaud told Reuters
   that, regardless of what happened on Monday's deadline, the damage had
   "already been done."

   "The Egyptian authorities are sowing a climate of fear which has
   stopped NGOs from doing their vital work of defending human rights and
   the law," he said.

   Zaree of CIHRS said his group and others already operated under severe
   constraints, constantly worried their work would be seen by the state
   as an attempt to "stain the national image."

   He cited his group's decision not to participate in last week's United
   Nations Human Rights Council review of Egypt's human rights record as
   an example when the group had to stand down, not knowing "what the cost
   of participating would be."

   Egypt defended its record at the meeting, saying that personal freedoms
   were among its prime concerns.

   The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (PIER), a well-known group,
   said it tried in 2004 to register under the law but "nothing happened,"
   even after staff went to court to try to get the application accepted.
   Like other groups doing similar work, EIPR is registered as a limited
   liability company.

   "We really don't see the point of registering under a 12 year-old-law
   that even the state says is inadequate," said EIPR Associate Director
   Gasser Abdel-Razek. "Everyone accepts the fact that this is not a
   democratic law."
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   nt-crackdown-looms/2514020.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/reu-egypt-rights-groups-fear-government-crackdown-looms/2514020.html