Egypt: Foreign Ministry concern over sentencing of foreign NGO members

ROME, Italy, June 6, 2013/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed concern over the Cairo Administrative Court's sentencing of 43 members of foreign non-governmental organizations, 27 of whom were judged in absentia, to a period of detention varying from 1 to 5 years in prison, and to close the Egypt-based offices of 5 NGOs that include the Konrad Adenauer Institute, the International Republican Institute and the National Democratic Institute. All are organizations whose commitment on behalf of democracy and civil and political rights everywhere in the world has been unanimously recognized.

Fully acknowledging Egyptian sovereignty, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its hope that subsequent legal proceedings will take into due account the need to fully guarantee the principles of freedom of association and speech.