Egypt Freezes Assets of Leading Rights Campaigners
Source: Associated Press
Egypt Freezes Assets of Leading Rights Campaigners
By HAMZA HENDAWI, ASSOCIATED PRESS CAIRO Sep 17, 2016, 3:02 PM ET
An Egyptian court on Saturday upheld a decision to freeze the assets of several prominent human rights campaigners in the latest blow to a once-vibrant activist community that has been largely silenced by a government crackdown.
The five activists named in the court ruling include Gamal Eid and investigative reporter Hossam Bahgat, also the founder of a key rights group. The ruling also froze the assets of prominent rights campaigners Bahey eldin Hassan, Mustafa el-Hassan and Abdel-Hafiz Tayel along with the assets of the groups they lead.
The five face charges of illegally receiving foreign funds and using them to harm national security. If convicted, they could face up to 25 years in prison.
"We can live under threat, but we will not collude with a police state that despises human rights, the January revolution and democracy," Eid, one of the five, wrote on his Facebook account after the verdict, referring to the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
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