Judges in Egypt have ruled that 43 non-governmental organization employees will stand trial for allegedly receiving foreign funds illegally and for being involved in activities banned in the country. One of the people who have been ordered to stand trial is Sam LaHood. He is the head of International Republican Institute, which is based out of Washington, DC, and the son of Ray LaHood, the United States Transportation Secretary.
As of now, there has not been a trial state set. On Saturday, Hillary Clinton, the United States Secretary of State told Egypt that failure to resolve this situation could end up costing Egypt $1.3 million in assistance for its military and an addition $250 million for economic aid that is due this year from the U.S.
The political turmoil in Egypt is responsible for a large part of this investigation. It’s been almost a year since Hosni Mubarak was ousted as Egypt’s president. The generals from Egypt’s military how took over after Mubarak stepped down have accused many foreign countries of having a hand in inciting protests. There have also been allegations that some of those countries have also funneled money to the protestors.
Authorities in Egypt are keeping four Europeans and six Americans from leaving the country. The reason given is that a probe into 17 rights groups has revealed the alleged charges mentioned above. The raids by Egyptian authorities have angered many countries that operate pro-democracy and human rights organizations in the Egypt.
Some of the items that were seized during the raids have been returned to the NGOs, such as computers and files. However, the raids brought a lot of criticism and the news of the upcoming trials will not likely be taken very well. It will be interesting to see if the 43 individuals do indeed stand trial.
