Egyptian newspapers angrily accused the ruling military on Friday of caving in to US pressure to allow foreign NGO workers, including a number of Americans, to escape trial on charges of illegal funding. One of them also accused the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) of trashing the concept of an independent judiciary, insinuating that it had strong-armed the courts into lifting a travel ban on the suspects. Amid the growing furore, American and other foreign democracy activists flew out of Cairo on Thursday night, airport officials said, a day after the judiciary lifted the travel ban.
They traveled to Cyprus, from which they were expected to head home, possibly on Friday. Their departure is expected to ease tensions with Washington, which had urged the SCAF to resolve the case. American officials and legislators had suggested the row could imperil $1.3 billion in US aid to its key Middle Eastern ally. Independent daily Al-Tahrir summed up the general mood with its front-page headline: “Scandal. Under orders from the military, the judiciary freed the Americans and let them travel.”
“In only 24 hours, the military council proved to the world that any talk of judicial independence in Egypt is no more than an illusion,” the paper said. It accused the SCAF of backing off under “pressure, negotiations and visits from American officials to Cairo.” On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had said there were “very intensive discussions with the Egyptian government” and “I think we are moving toward a resolution.” “But I don’t want to discuss it in great detail because it’s important that they know that we are continuing to push them but that we don’t necessarily put it out into the public arena yet,” she added.
The activists working for four American and a German NGO are accused, along with a number of Egyptians, of receiving illicit foreign funds and operating without licenses. The Americans include Sam LaHood, the son of US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and head of the International Republican Institute (IRI) in Egypt. He and several other US citizens had taken refuge inside their Cairo embassy. The trial began on Sunday, and the defendants and their lawyers denied the charges, which they said were political. Two days later, the three judges handling the case recused themselves under mysterious circumstances. State news agency MENA said chief judge Mohammed Shukry wrote to the head of the appeals court, which designates trial judges, saying they could not continue the trial. It quoted them as using a formulation that could either mean they felt unease at the proceedings or restrictions on their work.
