Egyptian human rights defenders vow to continue work after asset freeze

A request to freeze the assets of some of Egypt’s most prominent rights organizations and rights defenders was accepted in court on Saturday, in a long-running investigation into receipt of foreign funds with the aim of endangering national security.

The North Cairo Criminal Court's decision affects Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) founder and journalist Hossam Bahgat, Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) head Gamal Eid, the Egyptian Center for Right to Education and its head Abdel Hafiz Tayel, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) and its head Bahey Eddin Hassan, and the Hisham Mubarak Law Center and its manager Mostafa al-Hassan. The court rejected the prosecution’s request to freeze the assets of the human rights defenders’ family members…

The asset freeze comes in the context of case 173, in which 17 rights defenders from 12 organizations face charges of receiving foreign funding to harm national security and founding organizations of an international nature without permits… Twelve human rights defenders, including Eid and Bahgat, are facing ongoing travel bans in relation to the investigations.