Climate of fear

Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui is the Deputy Program Director Middle-East-Africa, Amnesty International London.

DW-WORLD.DE: What can you tell us about the events in Cairo?

Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui: At least five, if not more, offices of civil society organizations were raided around noon. The raids were led by special forces as well as members of the public persecutions office. The organizations were not notified of the reasons why the offices were raided, computers were confiscated as well as other material. But what happened was not surprising, because it has been in the works for a number of months now. We have seen a whole campaign by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, the military rulers of Egypt, targeted on society organizations.

To your knowledge, which kind of organizations were targeted?

Three US organizations were targeted, operating in Egypt legally. Also two very reputed Egytian organizations. We have also official statements that 17 groups were targeted. It is not clear if more raids are to be expected in the coming days - we have to be very vigilent. Over 40 groups were under investigation, and the authorities looked at about 300 organizations of foreign funding.

What's your explanation for this new focus on foreign NGOs and international civil rights societies?

It's very much an attempt to gather public support. This is part of the narrative that the Egyptian authorities want to provide, to justify their own shortcomings - that civil society organizations, human rights organizations, democracy groups are being manipulated by some foreign entities trying to damage the image of Egypt. As to the two other groups, it is quite remarkable that the head of the Arab Center for the Independence of the Judiciary is also a member of the government-established human rights institution and even an independent candidate for the ongoing parliamentary elections. Why these six, why not others? It possibly shows arbitrariness of the authorities.

Also, in a way, the fact that foreign organizations are targeted is an indication how far Egyptian authorities are willing to go. If they are ready to do that, I may not imagine what they do to Egyptian organizations that enjoy less protection and less international visibility.

What could the consequences be for civil society in Egypt?

The consequences are huge: First, they create a climate of fear for civil society organizations, and we do know that these organizations played an incremental role in challeging Mubarak. Trying to intimidate them is simply not acceptable. The good thing is that when we spoke with a number of activists in Egypt, they were completely undeterred.

But these raids create an environment where you think twice about critizing the authorities and think about the consequences or even a possible arrest. It's really time for the international community to really deal with the behaviour of the military council in Egypt. We had more frequent condemnations, demonstrations being crushed, peopble being killed, now civil society attacked - it's an indication that when civil society is attacked, the worst can happen.

The German government and the US government have reacted strongly to the raids. Is this sufficient?

The one institution in Egypt that receives most foreign funding is the army, so it's maybe time for a number of governments to reconsider their cooperation and their foreign aid with the Egyptian authorities, to really ensure that there is consistency, and that human rights are taken into account.

Interview: Johanna Schmeller
Editor: Rob Mudge