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January 3, 2012

Egyptian Military Defends Office Raids of Human Rights, Civil Society Groups 
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The Egyptian military is defending its recent raids of the offices of 17
human rights and civil society groups including three organizations
funded by the U.S. government. A top Egyptian official accused the
groups of operating without permission in violation of a Mubarak-era
law. Heba Morayeff of Human Rights Watch criticized the raids.

Heba Morayeff, Human Rights Watch: "I think it's a reflection of where
we stand right now in Egypt — there's been a narrowing of political
space for critical voices. We saw this early on in the year as the
authorities started to crack down on peaceful protests, as they started
to arrest and imprison bloggers and then summon journalists on charges
of insulting the military, some direct interference with the media. And
of course NGOs were always next on the list because they're the ones
who've been documenting torture, exposing the abuses and calling for
military accountability."



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