CAIRO — Egypt said Saturday the criminal trial of 16 Americans and 27 others will start Feb. 26 in a politically charged case against foreign-funded pro-democracy groups that has badly shaken Cairo’s ties with Washington.
The trial represents an escalation in what has become the deepest crisis in U.S.-Egypt relations in decades. American officials have threatened to cut $1.5 billion in aid over the spat, and high-level officials have flown in to seek a solution. Egyptian authorities have responded by blasting what they call U.S. meddling in legal affairs.
The investigation into the pro-democracy and rights groups fits into the wider campaign against alleged foreign influence since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak.
The probe began in December, when armed security forces raided the offices of 10 nonprofit groups, shuttering their offices after carting off files and computers.
Egypt’s state news agency said Saturday that the trial of 43 defendants in the case will begin Feb. 26. The report said 16 of the defendants are Egyptians and 19 are Americans, and the rest are Germans, Palestinians and Jordanians. The U.S. State Department, however, has said there are only 16 Americans facing trial.
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.
Only seven of the Americans are in Egypt, and all have been barred from travel. Some have sought refuge at the American Embassy in Cairo, including Sam LaHood, who heads IRI’s Egypt office and is the son of U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.
Neither IRI nor the U.S. Embassy responded to requests for comment.
Les Campbell, Middle East and North Africa director for NDI, said the charges are bogus but that NDI would cooperate with the legal process.
“It is primarily a political issue, so we still hope that it will be resolved at the political level,” he said. “But as an organization, we’re prepared to move along through the system.”
