Fear grips Egypt’s civil society as Sisi regime restricts NGOs

WASHINGTON — The mass sentencing to death of 188 people in Egypt, following the decision to dismiss the case against former Egyptian President Mubarak for his part in the deaths of hundreds of protestors in 2011, are the latest blows to the rule of law in Egypt.

Activists in Cairo say that things are worse than they were before. The last few months have seen a dramatic rise in fear among civil society leaders. Now, the threat to Egyptian civil society is immediate and existential, and Washington should take steps to protect it while it still can.

The November 10 deadline requiring NGOs to register under a restrictive law that would strip them of their independence passed without raids on offices or new detentions, but the threat of a crackdown still looms.

“The threat is imminent, it’s like a psychological war,” says one prominent activist. “We’re waiting for the knock on the door – every time the doorbell rings there’s an ‘Uh oh, who’s that?’ feeling.”

Some NGOs have drastically pared back what they are doing, while others have suspended their work entirely. Several activists are now in jail or have left the country. Yara Sallam, 29-year-old lawyer and graduate of Notre Dame, is serving a three-year prison sentence after being arrested while walking near a peaceful protest in June. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time and appears to have been victimized because she works for a human rights organization.

Foreboding among activists goes beyond concerns about their own fate —they fear for the future of their country. They are concerned the military-backed government of President Abdel Fattah Saeed Hussein Khalil el-Sisi is incompetent, unable to cope with the myriad threats from terrorism in the Sinai and beyond, with a breakdown in law and order, or with the unemployment crisis.

There’s a common fear that the generals won’t be able to revive the economy —“it’s like having a bunch of engineers trying to run a surgery,” says one senior civil society leader.

Unrest and violence continue to scare off investors and cripple tourism, which was down 25 percent from a year earlier in the first half of 2014. The International Monetary Fund forecasts that inflation will hit 10.9 percent this year and 13.4 percent in 2015. And while poverty rates in the region have generally fallen over the last decade, the rate in Egypt has risen from 17 percent in 2000 to 26 percent in 2013.

For the most part, Washington has chosen to stay quiet about how Egypt, its close military ally, is cracking down on civil society.

Human rights organizations are being forced to halt their missions of reporting human rights violations and instead are focusing their energies on self-preservation and protecting their staff members. Many NGOs believe it’s only a matter of time before they are shut down.

Two weeks ago, the largest delegation of US arms companies since 2011 traveled to Egypt. Enthusiastically welcomed by President Sisi, US Secretary of State John Kerry commended the trip, noting that American businesses "are looking for places to invest where they can count on not just security and stability but the transparency and certainty that comes with good governance.”

Secretary Kerry’s comments must have left Egypt’s civil society leaders wondering what country he was talking about. It surely gave them no hope that international pressure would soon help their country change.

The Egyptian government’s ongoing attack on civil society does not point toward good governance or stability. Washington needs to act fast, and in co-ordination with European and other partners. Washington especially needs to coordinate with its allies in the Gulf, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which have provided an economic lifeline to Sisi since he came to power.

An economic summit to provide a financial rescue package for Egypt, scheduled for March 2015, provides an opportunity for the United States and other donor states to use their leverage to encourage the Sisi government to take specific steps to move towards restoration of the rule of law and respect for basic rights and freedoms in Egypt – including making it possible for independent civil society organizations to function freely.

With such a firm foundation, Egyptian authorities can move towards the stability that would permit the economy to begin to recover. Without a decisive turn away from repression, Egypt risks deepening political polarization and further descent into violence and lawlessness.

Brian Dooley is with Human Rights First, based in Washington. This commentary is based on a reporting trip to Cairo.