Chairman Ros-Lehtinen and Members of the Committee, thank you for inviting me to testify about the terrible verdict in Egypt.
The
International Center for Journalists’ work in Egypt and around the world
is aimed at raising professional standards. We offer practical,
hands-on programs using the latest digital tools. We help today’s
journalists produce responsible, ethical coverage.
When we
first learned of the startling charges against five ICFJ employees, we
worked with excellent lawyers to present overwhelming evidence that the
allegations were false. Up until the verdict, our lawyers were convinced
of an acquittal. The decision to convict all of the NGO workers is a
politically motivated move. It does not reflect the work of ICFJ in
Egypt.
But
this decision has ruined lives. What do you say to a distinguished
journalist like Yehia Ghanem, whom we hired to lead our new program,
which hadn’t even begun, and to finish the registration process? He got a
two-year sentence and cannot return home to his wife and three children
– and the country he loves – without going to prison.
What do
we say to his children, who cry daily because they miss their father?
One of his kids had both arms broken in school for defending his dad’s
honor. Our other Egyptian employee, Islam Shafiq, is separated from his
pregnant young wife. Though his one-year term was suspended, is it
really safe for him to return? Both are here today.
The
court labeled the three U.S.-based defendants – Patrick Butler, Natasha
Tynes and Michelle Betz – as fugitives, though they were not based in
Egypt and were not there when the charges were filed. They got five-year
terms. These people’s livelihoods depend on travel. Labeled as
convicts, will they be arrested and sent to Cairo by a nation that has
an extradition treaty with Egypt?
Then
there's the societal impact. Egyptian court officials say they will
pursue anyone who helped the NGOs—and they want to investigate other
civil society groups. The draft of a new NGO law, by many accounts,
including the State Department’s, is onerously restrictive.
There is a chilling effect that has frozen the hopes of an Arab Spring.
For
ICFJ, this politically motivated decision is particularly painful. We
are not a political organization. We do not take political positions or
offer political advice.
ICFJ
has been working in Egypt since 2005, with the complete knowledge of the
government. We applied for registration from the start—and shortly
before our offices were raided, we gave the government full details
about all of our programs.
We
always have formal contracts with prestigious universities or news
organizations, which are registered to carry out our programs. In 2011,
our lawyer recommended that we open an office, a legal requirement for
registration. We had conducted no activities in this office while we
waited for final approval.
At the
heart of this matter is a dispute between the U.S. and Egyptian
governments over funding for NGO activity. The Egyptian Minister of
International Cooperation was angered that the U.S. gave funds to NGOs
instead of to her ministry. ICFJ and its employees were not aware of
this dispute.
The
verdict is full of loaded language. The court claims that NGOs may
appear to support human rights and democracy, but that the underlying
goal is to “undermine Egypt’s national security and lay out a sectarian
map that serves U.S. and Israeli interests.” The judges described NGO
work as a new form of “soft imperialism practiced by donors to
destabilize, weaken and dismantle” Egypt.
How do
we even relate to any of these charges? The ICFJ defendants did nothing
wrong by training journalists. We are discussing with our lawyers how to
appeal this verdict. But how can we be confident in the appeal process
when judges simply ignore the facts? Our employees also risk getting
thrown in jail if they return home for an appeal. And those tried in
absentia have no legal recourse.
Egypt’s
news media have made groundless attacks on our defendants. These
distortions show that the media need ICFJ’s services more than ever. The
real victims are the Egyptian people, who will likely see further
backsliding in democracy and freedom of expression.
Members
of Congress who visited Egypt during the trial assured our staff there
that they had nothing to worry about. The U.S. government would protect
those working on programs it funded, they said. We urge Congress now to
hold fast to that promise. Please use all means possible to get these
unjust verdicts overturned.
We need
a pardon so that good, decent people like Yehia Ghanem and Islam Shafiq
can recapture their lives. It would be a shame if Egyptian citizens now
fear that working to build democratic institutions will only land them
in jail.
