Days after the prime minister insisted Egypt would never bow to external pressure, foreign defendants in the high profile case against NGOs were allowed to leave the country. The public is furious, but will soon forget, writes Khaled Dawoud The trial of 43 defendants accused of illegally receiving funding from the United States and Germany to run four unlicensed NGOs re-opens today at the Al-Qahera Al-Gedida Court in the Cairo suburb of Al-Tagammu Al-Khamis. The circumstances could not be more different from the first -- and so far only -- session of this politically charged case. Since 26 February, when the first session was held, 13 defendants, including six Americans, have left the country on board a plane chartered by the US government. The travel ban on the defendants was lifted, according to Appeals Court head Abdel-Moez Ibrahim, on payment of LE2 million bail each. The only defendants remaining are Egyptians, who could face up to five years in prison if found guilty by the new panel of judges. The original panel recused themselves, their reasons for doing so still the subject of feverish speculation. Rapid fire developments in the case, which had brought relations between Egypt and the US to their lowest levels in over three decades, have left the public confused. On 29 February a small airplane chartered by the US State Department landed at Cairo International Airport. Airport officials claim to have no knowledge why. Civil Aviation Minister Hussein Massoud, who was among three ministers testifying before the Shura Council on Tuesday, was obviously keen to calm the public fury that followed the departure of the 13 defendants, insisting that the plane was not a US military aircraft, as was originally reported in the local media, but a private jet paid for by the US government that had flown to Cairo from Cyprus. Only days before headlines in the state-owned press had claimed that security and intelligence bodies had foiled a plot, funded by the US, to divide Egypt into four regions, incite sectarian strife, and -- in the words of Minister of International Cooperation Fayza Abul-Naga, "direct the 25 January Revolution towards serving US and Israeli interests". Coverage of the alleged plot extended to attacks on Egyptians working in the fields of human rights and development who were vilified as foreign agents working to undermine the state. Egyptian NGOs that had received European and American funding were singled out, while the far more generous funding that has been flowing for decades from oil-rich Arab Gulf nations to Islamist groups in Egypt went without a mention. Prime Minister Kamal El-Ganzouri issued statements declaring that "Egypt will never kneel, will never submit, and will never change its stand on the case involving foreign funding". Following the sudden departure of the American and other foreign nationals involved in the case many human rights activists, MPs and ordinary members of the public are questioning whether the trial -- which now involves only Egyptians -- will resume. It is incomprehensible, they say, to continue to prosecute local employees of NGOs for what are purportedly serious crimes when the authorities facilitated the departure of foreigners from Egypt accused of exactly the same crimes. The Muslim Brotherhood was apparently embarrassed when US Senator John McCain, among scores of US officials who mediated to end the crisis, issued a statement praising the group's role in settling the case and promising to work on a new law that would allow NGOs to work more freely in Egypt. MP Essam El-Eryan, a prominent Muslim Brotherhood figure, strongly denied the group played any role in the deal that resulted in the departure of the US citizens. He accused the US of trying to tarnish the MB's image after its landslide victory in parliamentary elections. SCAF remained tight-lipped, though few doubt it was the major player and final decision-maker. The Egyptian army receives $1.3 billion annually from the United States. The US aid package acts as a green light for other donors and international funding organisations to provide support for Egypt's ailing economy. An unnamed high-level official told Al-Ahram on Sunday that as part of the deal reached between Egypt and the US over the release of the Americans $10 billion in aid from Arab Gulf countries, the US, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank would be forthcoming. The revelation did little to dampen public anger. Former Judge Mahmoud El-Khodeiri, who now heads the People's Assembly's legislative committee, said blame should not be directed at the head of the Appeals Court, Abdel-Moez, who has admitted he asked the judge heading the original trial panel, Mahmoud Shukri, to recuse himself allegedly because his son worked for a law firm that dealt with the US embassy in Cairo. Shukri subsequently denied his son had any such dealings, implying that his resignation from the case was a response to demands made by Abdel-Moez to lift the travel ban imposed on the American defendants. "Someone clearly called Abdel-Moez and asked him to take this decision," El-Khodeiri said. "This someone can only be a senior member of SCAF." The former judge noted that he had hoped that the practices of the Mubarak era, including interfering in judicial affairs, had ended. "But these same practices are still taking place, which is why we urgently need a new law that can guarantee the total independence of the judiciary." With just a few months left before presidential elections on 23 May, and a difficult debate taking place over who should draft a new constitution, most observers believe that this latest crisis will quickly fade. "It is yet more evidence of SCAF's incompetence in running the country," says Wael Qandil, a columnist at Al-Shorouk newspaper known for his close ties to revolutionary movements. "But nothing will happen. People are more concerned with security and obtaining their daily food." In a protest in front of the Supreme Judicial Court in downtown Cairo a small group of protesters gathered on Tuesday demanding an end to the trial of all 43 defendants. "We have been humiliated by SCAF and the Americans. Enough humiliation. At least let us release the Egyptians like we did with the Americans," said Ragia Ali, an activist. (see p.2)
