From YahooNewsUK:
Cairo court sentenced 43 Egyptian and foreign NGO staff to jail terms of up to five years for working illegally, sparking outrage and raising fears for the future of civil society.
The sentences follow trials that came in the wake of 2011 raids on the offices of foreign civil society groups, many of which had operated without licences under ousted president Hosni Mubarak but which the new authorities deemed were receiving funds illicitly.
The criminal court sentenced 27 defendants in absentia to five years.
Five defendants who were present in the country, including one American, were sentenced to two years behind bars and ordered to pay a fine of 1,000 Egyptian pounds (almost $145).
The remaining 11 were each given one-year suspended sentences.
The court also ordered the permanent closure of the branches of the NGOs where the staffers worked.
These include US-based Freedom House, the International Republican Institute and the National Democratic Institute, as well as Germany's Konrad Adenauer Foundation.
The defendants, who were charged with receiving illicit foreign funds and operating without a licence, have said they will appeal.
The verdict caused an outcry abroad, with US Secretary of State John Kerry denouncing it as "politically motivated".
"This decision runs contrary to the universal principle of freedom of association and is incompatible with the transition to democracy," he said in a statement.
Stressing the vital role such groups played in reinforcing democracy, he added: "I urge the government of Egypt to work with civic groups as they respond to the Egyptian people's aspirations for democracy as guaranteed in Egypt's new constitution."
Germany also expressed alarm.
"We are outraged and deeply concerned over the stiff judgements against staff of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung in Cairo and the ordered closure of the office," Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said.
"The action by the Egyptian justice is alarming. It weakens civil society as an important pillar of democracy in a new democratic Egypt."...............
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