Sponsorship Link
An Egyptian court adjourned the trial of dozens of democracy activists -- 16 Americans among them -- on Sunday at the opening session of a case that has threatened ties between Cairo and Washington, as well as $1.3 billion in annual U.S. military aid to the North African nation.
/
Forty-three Egyptian and foreign nonprofit workers, who include the son of U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, are accused of receiving illegal funds from abroad and carrying out political activities unrelated to their civil-society work.
Judge Mahmud Mohamed Shukry adjourned the trial until April 26 at the end of the session in the rowdy chamber, where television reporters crowded around him and an interior-ministry official threatened to expel journalists. His decision could give more time for a diplomatic solution to the case, attorneys said.
"The time set allows for the [nongovernmental organization] law to be amended, and this could leave room for lawyers to argue that the defendants are not guilty. A fine may be demanded, however," said Khaled Suleiman, a lawyer acting against the defendants.
Must Read
In the crowded courtroom on the outskirts of Cairo, lawyers who said they were volunteering in the case against the activists, demanded the defendants be imprisoned and accused them of "espionage."
Follow us
"These organizations are accused of espionage and going against the law. Most of them are in contact with the CIA. These organizations gathered information and reports on Egypt and sent them to the U.S. State Department," lawyer Suleiman said.
Judge Shukry said the defendants were free to leave the court and would not be held in detention until the next hearing.
Those accused in the case were banned from leaving Egypt pending the trial, and some of the U.S. citizens targeted in the probe have taken refuge at the American embassy.
Thirteen defendants stood behind the courtroom's bars on Sunday, all Egyptians. They appeared to be relaxed during recesses, using their mobile phones and talking to one another.
Several of the accused foreigners were already abroad when the travel ban was enacted. Many of the activists had not been formally summoned to appear before the court.
Discussions
A senior U.S. official said on Saturday that Washington and Cairo were holding what he described as "intense discussions" to resolve the crisis within days. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who arrived in the Moroccan capital after visits to Algeria and Tunisia, has met Egypt's Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr twice in the last three days, the official said on condition of anonymity.
The U.S. pro-democracy groups whose staff have been charged deny they have done anything illegal.
Egypt says the case is a judicial matter and all groups must heed Egyptian law. In the text of the charges the prosecution would present, the groups are accused of establishing without permission branches for their organizations and offering unauthorized political training and workshops to parties.
