Councilor Ahmed Abdel Aziz, head of the judicial investigative body on the case of illegal foreign financing of some associations and civil society organizations, decided to close case 173 due to insufficient evidence, announcing the end of the entire investigation.
We learn this from an official statement, in which the investigating judge explained that the number of organisations, associations and bodies for which a non-proceeding order was ordered is 85, including all the organisations, bodies and associations that had been included in the investigations of case 173 of 2011, thus bringing the curtain down on the investigation. After the revolution that overthrew the regime of former President Hosni Mubarak broke out in 2011, authorities began investigating activists and heads of civil society organizations accused of receiving money from abroad.
In June 2013, a criminal court in Cairo sentenced 43 foreign and Egyptian employees of foreign NGOs to sentences ranging from one to five years. The closure of the case came just days after Egypt and the European Union signed an agreement to elevate relations to a strategic partnership. Over the years, the EU has repeatedly called on Cairo to close the case.
