Update : Egypt’s parliament passes new NGO law | MadaMasr
▻http://www.madamasr.com/en/2016/11/29/news/u/parliament-passes-new-ngo-law
Article 24 makes the approval of the National Authority for the Regulation of Non-Governmental Foreign Organizations necessary for the receipt of foreign funding. While the earlier draft presented by the government had the same condition, it considered the lack of a response within 60 days equivalent to approval, while the current draft considers the lack of a response within the same period equivalent to a rejection.
The penalties in Article 87 of the new law range from one to five years imprisonment, in addition to a fine between LE50 thousand and LE1 million.
The law stipulates prison terms of up to five years and fines between LE50,000 and LE1 million. Crimes considered punishable by five-year sentences include cooperating with a foreign organization to practice civil society work without obtaining permits, and conducting or participating in field research or opinion polls in the field of civil society without prior approval.
It is not permissible for an association to open headquarters or offices in any governorate without prior written approval from the minister of social solidarity, according to Article 21. Those who move an association’s headquarters to somewhere other than the originally registered location may be eligible for prison time of up to a year and a fine up to LE500,000.
Associations are obliged “to work according to the state’s plan and its developmental needs,” Article 14 stipulates.
Mohamed Zaree, the head of the Cairo office of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) previously told Mada Masr that the new law does not only target human rights organizations, but all local development organizations and individual initiatives. For him, the law indicates that the state is at war with civil society.