CAIRO - Judge Abdel-Moez Ibrahim, the head of the Cairo Court of Appeal, said Thursday, March 1, that the people charged with involvement in the foreign funding of non-governmental organisations (NGO) work in Egypt have been released, with a $300,000 fine being paid for each of them. Cairo airport authorities have been told that a travel ban on the US pro-democracy activists has been lifted, security sources said Thursday. “Instructions have arrived to lift the travel ban on the accused Americans to allow them to leave, should they turn up to travel,” the sources said, adding they can leave at any time and on any flight. Ibrahim said that the accused asked the court to release them, adding that the criminal court says that the case is a felony according to Articles 28 and 98 of the Penal Code. A verdict in this case will be handed down tomorrow, the official Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported. Ibrahim revealed that he has asked Judge Mohamed Shukri, responsible for the case, to resign from it, as Shukri's son, a prosecutor, works for a consultative office connected with the US Embassy. Amr Roshdi, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, said that the case of funding of NGOs is like any other case and that the Ministry has no right to interfere. He explained that the US Secretary of State has got involved, because the case concerns American citizens, adding Egypt does the same thing if Egyptians are charged in a case in another country. A senior judge and other judicial sources said on Wednesday, February 29, that the Government had decided to lift the ban, which barred the departure of US citizens working for NGOs it says received foreign funds illegally. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday she had no confirmation that the ban was lifted but said she expected the NGO row to be resolved "in the very near future”. Airport sources said late on Wednesday that a US military plane had arrived from Cyprus to fly the Americans out. It was not clear when any of the Americans would leave or if they would travel on commercial flights. Sixteen of the 47 people facing charges are Americans. Seven of the Americans are in Egypt and some of them have sought refuge in the US Embassy – which has made no comment on the case. The NGO workers include Egyptians, Serbs, Norwegians and Germans. They have been accused of receiving foreign funds without the approval of the local authorities. The workers are also alleged to have carried out political activities unrelated to their work and have been accused of failing to obtain necessary operating licences. Two of the organisations involved, the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the International Republican Institute (IRI), are loosely affiliated with the major US political parties and one of the accused, IRI Egypt Director Sam LaHood, is the son of US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. The first session of the court was held last Sunday and then it was adjourned to April 26. That adjournment had raised hopes among activists' supporters that the case could be dropped to spare further damage to US-Egyptian ties. Meanwhile, People's Assembly member Mohamed Abdel-Alim presented an interpellation to Prime Minster Kamal el-Ganzouri and Justice Minister Adel Abdel-Hamid about the reasons for lifting the travel ban on these NGO workers. He said that US Ambassador to Cairo, Anne Patterson, has made statements to the effect that the problems of the US workers will be solved soon, adding that the US is still pressurising Egyptian decision-makers. Abdel-Alim's colleague Moustafa Bakri presented an urgent interpellation about the reasons behind Shukri's resignation. He asked Abdel-Hamid to attend an urgent PA session to discover why he has resigned.
