Egypt sets Feb. 26 as start date for NGO trial

Egypt will begin hearing the criminal trial of 19 Americans and 24 others on Feb. 26 in a politically charged case against foreign-funded pro-democracy groups, the country's state news agency said Saturday.       

The trial represents an escalation in what has become the deepest crisis in U.S.-Egyptian relations in decades. American officials have said the investigation could hinder the more than $1 billion in U.S. aid that Cairo receives. Egyptian authorities have blasted what they call U.S. interference in legal affairs.       

Egypt's state news agency reported that the trial would open before a Cairo court on Feb. 26. It said 19 of the 43 defendants are Americans and 16 are Egyptians. The rest are Germans, Palestinians and Jordanians.        

The Americans work for four U.S.-based groups: the International Republican Institute, the National Democratic Institute, Freedom House and a group that trains journalists.  

The report said all the defendants had been charged with founding and managing offices of international organizations without licenses from the Egyptian government and receiving foreign funding. The groups' operations "infringe on Egyptian sovereignty," it said.       

The setting of a trial date by Egypt, in addition to a campaign against NGOs in the state media, are likely to inflame a crisis that U.S. officials have tried to solve through diplomacy.    

AP