In a press release on Sunday, Nazra for Feminist Studies announced its inclusion in the NGO foreign funding case, the government's ongoing interrogation of Egyptian NGO licensing and funding.
The case, according to Nazra's statement, dates back to July 3, 2011, when the Ministerial Cabinet formed a fact-finding committee to investigate the funding of non-governmental organisations. The committee recruited investigators from the ministries of finance and social solidarity, the central bank, the tax administration, National Security Sector and General Intelligence. Judges have been working on the cases since 2011, said Nazra, with no official charges given yet.
According to the statement, Nazra was put on file for interrogation by the committee in 2011 under the case number 173.
The press release added that between Sunday 13 March and Tuesday 15 March, 3 members of Nazra staff received official summons to an interrogation session. The session has been postponed from Wednesday 16 until Tuesday 22 March. The summons did not specify the reason why the Nazra employees should attend the interrogation, or how the summons related to their work at the NGO.
Nazra accredited the investigation to increasing governmental efforts to "crackdown on independent civil society organizations", calling it an attempt to "close the public space". The statement cited interrogations, travel bans, summons of NGO staff members, and inspection committee visits to NGOs among the strategies used by the government to enforce the "crackdown".
Nazra claimed that the government's efforts began a long time ago, but have been stepped up recently.
The feminist studies NGO noted that it was registered as an association on 28 December, 2007 (organisation number 7184). The statement reiterates that all of the organisation's activities are legal and publically announced.
Nazra for Feminist Studies obtained the Economic and Social Special Consultative Status with the United Nations in January 2014.
The organisation is headed by Mozn Hassan.
