Cairo Criminal Court has acquitted 41 defendants in the NGO foreign funding case on Thursday, after the court of cassation ordered their re-trial in April. In 2013, court had sentenced 27 defendants (including 18 Americans) in absentia for five-year-imprisonment, after they were accused of operating in foreign Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) without necessary approval, and illegally receiving up to US$60 million in funds from abroad. The court also sentenced five defendants, including an American, a German and three Egyptians, for two-year-imprisonment, and suspended sentences of one-year-imprisonment for a bail of LE1000. The criminal court accused the defendants of establishing, between March 2011 and December 2011, branches of international organizations without obtaining a license from the Egyptian government in Cairo, Giza, Alexandria, Assiut or Luxor. The defendants established a branch of the International Republican Institute, which has its headquarters in the United States, as well as branches of Freedom House, and the International Center for Journalists.

Source: Egypt Independent December 20, 2018 12:00 UTC