New York Times
Widening Crackdown, Egypt Shutters Group That Treats Torture Victims
Widening Crackdown, Egypt Shutters Group That Treats Torture Victims
CAIRO
— The Egyptian police on Thursday shut down the offices of an
organization that treats victims of torture and violence in the latest
escalation of a harsh government crackdown against human rights defenders and civil liberties groups.
The organization, Al Nadeem Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence, is one of several groups to have their offices closed, their assets frozen or travel bans imposed
on their leaders in the past year. Prominent lawyers, journalists and
others considered a threat to President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi have also
been singled out.
In
justifying the sweeping measures, Egyptian officials say they need to
regulate Western-funded groups that threaten the stability of the
Egyptian state and aid terrorism. Critics say Mr. Sisi is seeking to
consolidate his control by silencing even the mildest sources of
dissent.
Since
coming to power in 2013, his government has locked up tens of thousands
of opponents and effectively outlawed public protests. Now, many fear, President Trump’s support for Mr. Sisi could embolden the Egyptian leader to go further.
Mr. Trump has embraced Mr. Sisi as a “fantastic guy” and invited him to the White House. Mr. Sisi was notably silent about Mr. Trump’s recent ban on travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries.
Al
Nadeem Center, which was founded in 1993, has been fighting for
survival since last February, when the government first threatened to
close it, citing vague health regulations. The center has provided
therapy to about 1,000 victims of police abuse, its founders say, and
cataloged instances of police torture, unlawful killings and illegal
abductions.
Such abuses have a strong political resonance in Egypt. Public anger at widespread police misconduct was a leading cause of the January 2011 uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak.
Early
on Thursday, about 50 police officers turned up at the center’s offices
and put wax seals on the doors, said Magda Adly, a founding member of
Al Nadeem. “I don’t understand how a regime with an army and a police
force can be scared of 20 activists,” she said in a phone interview.
Al
Nadeem had challenged an order to close issued by an administrative
court in Cairo last February. That case is still being heard, so it was
not clear why the police decided to enforce the order on Thursday. In a
statement, Amnesty International said the closing represented “yet
another shocking attack on civil society” by Mr. Sisi’s government.
“The
move exposes the chilling extremes to which the authorities are
prepared to go to in their relentless and unprecedented persecution of
human rights activists,” said Najia Bounaim, Amnesty’s deputy regional
director, at the group’s regional office in Tunis.
Mr. Sisi has struggled to deal with a painful economic crisis
in recent months. Yet he faces little opposition in the news media or
in Parliament, which is filled with his supporters. In recent months
lawmakers drafted a bill that would place further stringent restrictions
on the operation of aid groups in Egypt and that has met with stiff
criticism from Egypt’s Western allies.
Mr. Sisi has not indicated whether he intends to sign the bill into law.
Among
the groups singled out by the government measures is Nazra for Feminist
Studies, which campaigns for gender equality and helps victims of
sexual violence. Along with its founder, Mozn Hassan, it received the
2016 Right Livelihood Award, known to some as the Alternative Nobel Prize.
Since
last year, Nazra’s bank accounts have been frozen, and Ms. Hassan has
been prohibited from leaving Egypt. The group has laid off most of its
50 staff members and has been forced to leave its office. Ms. Hassan
faces criminal charges that carry a potential sentence of life
imprisonment if she is convicted.
“This
is the harshest crackdown on the human rights movement in Egypt since
the 1980s,” Ms. Hassan said. “It’s so clear from the presidential
rhetoric that they do not want us to exist. They want to destroy us.”
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