Limits of democracy

The trial of 43 pro-democracy activists, which critics say is politically motivated, began Sunday afternoon in a Cairo court. The defendants, which include 19 US and two German citizens, are accused of working for unlicensed non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and of receiving illegal foreign funding.

The judge adjourned the activists' trial to April, raising hope among some observers that diplomatic pressure could be increased in the meantime to secure the activists' release.

In December, Egyptian police raided the offices of 17 NGOs across the country, detaining employees and seizing computer files. Pro-democracy advocates said at the time that the crackdown was designed to smear civil society groups for exposing alleged abuses by Egypt's military-led government.

Christian Wolff, who teaches politics and contemporary Middle East history at the Institute of Political Science at Germany's University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, said he saw two possible motivations for the trial.

"On the one hand, it may be that the military wants to show where the red line is in Egypt," Wolff told Deutsche Welle. "At the moment, Egypt has still not established a true democracy, the military and the old elites are thus de facto still in power and they just want to show other countries: this is how far we're willing to go and no step further."

According to Wolff, however, it could also be that "the political system [in Egypt] is presently so cluttered by so many different interest groups that this NGO issue is part of that and no one in the government really knows how to deal with it."

Setphan Roll, an expert on Egypt with the Science and Politics Foundation in Berlin, goes one step further, suspecting that the leadership in Cairo is no longer in complete control of the process.

"I'm afraid some things over there have become a matter of course," Roll said.

'NGOs must operate freely'

German Chancellor Angela Merkel last week expressed her dismay at the actions of the Egyptian security forces against foreign organizations and called for the trial to be aborted.

"We have to make sure that international NGOs can operate freely in Egypt to support the socio-political development of the country," said Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert earlier this week.

The German Embassy in Cairo has denied reports in Egypt's pro-government daily Al-Ahram newspaper that employees of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS) in Cairo were getting their orders from the froup's office in Israel.

"There is and never was a collaboration between the KAS office in Egypt with any organizations in Israel or with the KAS office in Israel," the embassy said in a statement.

An employee of the embassy added that members of the KAS office in Cairo neither imported cash illegally nor created "secret reports."

Tensions between the US and Egypt
The actions of the Egyptian judiciary have also led to tensions with the United States. The US government warned Egypt of consequences should employees of US organizations be put on trial. The case could have a detrimental impact on US military aid to Egypt, which amounts to $1.5 billion (1.1 billion euors) a year, the State Department said.

"In the long term, that will definitely leave a lasting impression on the military government," Wolff said. "One should, of course, also take into account how much money comes from Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries. The US certainly has its competitors there."

The US, however, would like to come to a solution sooner rather than later. One of the 19 US defendants in this explosive case is Sam LaHood. He heads the International Republican Institute in Cairo and is the son of Ray LaHood, the US Secretary of Transportation.

During his visit to Cairo earlier this week, Republican Senator John McCain expressed his hope for a speedy resolution of the dispute.

Hussein Tantawi, chairman of the Supreme Military Council in Egypt, assured him that the Egyptian authorities were "actively" working on resolving the issue. McCain said he was "cautiously optimistic" that the issue would be resolved "soon."

Author: Marco Müller / tt
Editor: Gregg Benzow