A court in Cairo has ordered a freeze on the assets of five leading human rights activists and three human rights organisations, in a move activists fear it will be followed by tough measures that could include lengthy prison sentences. Hossam Bahgat, an investigative journalist and the founder of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights and Gamal Eid, head of the Arab Network for Human Rights Information, are among the five people whose assets were ordered frozen on Saturday. Egyptian human rights groups say they are the target of repressive measures by the government intended to silence criticism and eliminate challenges from the vocal civil society sector which expanded in the years leading to the 2011 revolution and in its immediate aftermath. Rights advocates have been under intense pressure from the authorities since the popularly-backed coup in 2013 which ousted an elected Islamist president and was followed by the killing of hundreds of his supporters and the jailing of tens of thousands. The state and private press has regularly tarred them as saboteurs in the pay of foreign powers to undermine the country and tarnish its reputation. The asset freeze comes on top of travel bans against twelve rights activists imposed by investigating judges in a case that could affect up to 37 organisations alleged to have received money illegally from foreign donors to carry out activities that harm national security. The groups being investigated range from democracy organisations to women's rights associations. All depend on foreign funding. Analysts argue that the country's ruling establishment and its security services believe human rights NGOs played a role in building a permissive atmosphere which facilitated the eruption of a revolution. "I think certain parts of the establishment view civil society groups as being inherently destabilising," said HA Hellyer, senior non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council and Royal United Services Institute in London. "They view them as having an agenda linked to foreign interests." In a joint statement issued ahead of the asset freeze ruling, seven groups said that the "prosecution of Egyptian NGO leaders on criminal charges related to their legitimate human rights work appears increasingly imminent." Amnesty International slammed the asset freezes as "a shameless ploy to silence human rights activism." Philip Luther, Amnesty's Middle East director said: "The Egyptian authorities are using this case as a way to crush the country's human rights movement. Meanwhile, the government's brutal crackdown on dissent shows no sign of stopping, with enforced disappearances and torture becoming a matter of state policy. Egypt needs these critical voices more than ever." Source: Financial Times
