CAIRO: A number of Egyptian human rights organizations expressed their regret and condemned the continued “smear and defamation campaign” by the Egyptian government against civil society organizations. A group of 29 organizations issued a joint statement this week, decrying the prosecution of 43 Egyptian and American workers to criminal court, accusing the government of “acting upon political motives, as these organizations have been operating for years, without being subjected to prosecution,” adding that the government “never ordered them to stop their activities or shut down their headquarters.” The statement added that the Egyptian government invited and accredited two of these organizations to monitor the parliamentary elections last October, although this is inconsistent with Article II of Resolution No. 20 of 2011 issued by the head of the Supreme Committee for the Elections on the organization of the role of civil society in the follow-up of elections, “where it is not permissible for non-Egyptian civil society organizations to monitor the electoral process and that a permit must be provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.” The joint statement said that the campaign against these NGOs “is an attempt to divert public attention from the failures of the government.” The statement was signed by the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, the Egyptian Association for Community Participation Enhancement, the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, the Arab Association for Support of Civil Society and Human Rights, Hisham Mubarak Center for Law, the Arab Organization for Penal Reform and the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/3988O Tags: featured, Government, NGO, SCAF Section: Egypt, Latest News
