‘Punished for doing their jobs:’ Lawyers defend HR workers in court, 14 December 2016

A Cairo court upholds the asset freeze motion for rights lawyer Azza Soliman and the Lawyers for Justice and Peace company she heads, adjourning its decision on asset freezes for Mozn Hassan and Nazra for Feminist Studies, and Mohamed Zaree and Atef Hafez and the Arab Organization for Criminal Reform … The law of criminal procedures entitles the public prosecution to request the asset freezes of defendants based on its own investigations, or a request from the investigative magistrate in charge of the case... since the NGO foreign funding case was reopened earlier this year, none of the defendants in the case has been interrogated, except human rights lawyer Azza Soliman, nor have their names or charges been officially announced to date … The investigative judge considers bank transfers to be a crime in itself, the [defendants’ lawyer, Taher Abul Nasr] asserts, even though there are no laws criminalizing the transfer of funds to private or company accounts … “My client is one of the most prominent women’s rights defenders. This is neither a crime, nor something to be ashamed of. She is against violence against women in the public space; why should this harm national security or Egypt’s reputation?” [defendants’ lawyer, Ahmed Ragheb] declares.