CAIRO--The cases of 40 foreign and Egyptian activists, including 19 Americans subject to travel bans over their work for pro-democracy and other groups, have been referred to court, judicial sources said on Sunday, deepening a row with the United States.
Washington, which provides $1.3 billion in military aid annually to Egypt, has strongly criticised the crackdown on the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) which has taken place under the army-backed government. An unspecified number of U.S. citizens involved have sheltered in the U.S. embassy.
The latest step in the judicial process will further strain ties with the United States, which counted Egypt under ousted President Hosni Mubarak as a vital regional ally and lynchpin in its Middle East policy. "We are deeply concerned by these reports and are seeking clarification from the Egyptian government," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters.
Egyptian officials say the crackdown is part of an investigation into foreign funding of NGOs. For the authorities, it is a matter of law; the non-governmental organisations broke it by receiving foreign funding without government approval.
Activists say the ruling military may be using the issue to whip up nationalist sentiment and distract attention from criticism the army is facing from protesters over its handling of the transition to civilian rule. "The cases of 40 foreign and Egyptian suspects have been transferred to the Cairo criminal court related to foreign funding," a judicial source told Reuters. State news agency MENA also carried the report.
Even before the move to refer the NGO cases to court, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had warned that relations could be harmed if Egypt did not resolve the issue. "We are very clear that there are problems that arise from this situation that can impact all the rest of our relationship with Egypt. We do not want that," Clinton told reporters in Munich where she met Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr on the sidelines of an international security conference.
Several U.S. citizens and others involved in the probe have been barred from leaving Egypt. They include Sam LaHood, the country director of the International Republican Institute (IRI) who is the son of the U.S. transportation secretary.
"The continued assault on American, German and Egyptian civil society is not a 'legitimate judicial process,' the IRI said in a statement. "It is a politically motivated effort to squash Egypt's growing civil society, orchestrated through the courts, in part by Mubarak-era hold overs."
