US Aid Workers To Be Tried In Egypt

(NewsCore) - Egypt is to try 44 people, including Americans, over the funding of non-governmental organizations, a judicial source said Sunday, a day after the US said aid to Cairo will be reviewed over the crackdown.

"Forty-four people, including Egyptians, 19 Americans and other nationalities, have been referred to the Cairo criminal court in the NGO funding case," the source told AFP, adding that a travel ban on all remained in place.

Earlier authorities said 40 people would stand trial.

They are accused of "setting up branches of international organizations in Egypt without a license from the Egyptian government" and of "receiving illegal foreign funding."

The move will further strain US-Egypt ties after the offices of several NGOs -- including US organizations International Republican Institute, the National Democratic Institute and Freedom House -- were raided in December.

Cairo prosecutors stormed 17 offices of local and international NGOs, confiscating computers and paperwork.

Egypt then barred some US members of the NGOs from leaving the country and American officials said "a handful" took refuge inside the US embassy.

Those barred from leaving included Sam LaHood, the son of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

The raids were part of a probe into allegations of illegal foreign funding.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Saturday that Washington's aid to Egypt will be reviewed, highlighting the continued deadlock over Cairo's crackdown.

Last week, senior Egyptian military officers visited the United States for talks in a bid to defuse the dispute.

US defense secretary Leon Panetta also telephoned Egypt's military ruler, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, and asked him to lift the travel ban on the American citizens.

Copyright 2012 AFP. All rights reserved.