Court dismisses lawsuit against Hisham Mubarak Law Centre in NGO foreign funding case

El-Sayed Gamal El-Din , Monday 4 Mar 2024

A Cairo appeals court dismissed on Monday the criminal lawsuit against Hisham Mubarak Law Centre for lack of sufficient evidence of having illegally received foreign funding.

High Court of Justice
File Photo: A view of the High Court of Justice in Cairo, Egypt Reuters

 

Judge Ahmed Abdel-Aziz Qattalan, the judge appointed to investigate the case, removed the names of the centre’s officials from the travel ban and watch lists and unfroze their assets. 

Speaking to the media, Judge Qattalan clarified that 80 organizations have had criminal lawsuits against them dismissed in case 173 from 2011, popularly known in Egypt as the foreign funding case.

Investigations into the remaining entities in the case are ongoing, he explained.

The contentious case has its roots in the January 2011 Revolution, which resulted in the removal of the late President Hosni Mubarak. It encompasses an undisclosed number of NGOs whose assets were frozen and whose personnel were prohibited from traveling internationally.

Over the past two years, investigating judges have consistently issued rulings dismissing charges against NGOs involved in the case, with the most recent instances occurring as recently as last August.

In 2020, Egypt formally adopted the bylaws of a new NGO law aimed at regulating the activities of the numerous NGOs operating within the country.

The previous version of this law faced significant criticism for imposing stringent limitations on the operations of these organizations

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