By POMED –
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After the Egyptian parliament moved forward with an extremely repressive NGO law on November 29, twenty-two NGOs, four political parties, and 19 public figures urged President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to reject the law within the 30-day limit.
The letter [Ar] labels the new law a “flagrant violation of Egypt’s constitution and international legal commitments regarding freedom of civic association.” Mohamed Zaree of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) told Daily News Egypt, “The president has constitutional powers enabling him to not pass the law.”
The joint statement said the law was “passed without proper dialogue,” and added, “The law renders it impossible for civil society organizations focused on development, social services, and charitable activities to deliver direly needed services to the citizenry at a time when these services are needed more than ever.”
NGO signatories included CIHRS, the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms, Egypt Press Syndicate-Freedoms Committee, the National Group for Human Rights and Law, and Masryoon Against Religious Discrimination. Public figures lending their support included Ahmad Fawzi of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party; feminist activist Amal Abdel Hadi; Khaled al-Balshi, the Head of the Freedoms’ Committee at the Press Syndicate; and Hamdeen Sabahi, the founder of the Popular Current.
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