CAIRO--Egyptian security forces seized computers, printers and documents from offices of at least 17 human-rights organizations Thursday, including three U.S.-based groups, adding new tensions to fraying ties between Egypt's interim military leadership and its allies in Washington.
Egypt's military leadership has repeatedly blamed the country's continuing violent protests on what they call a foreign-borne conspiracy aimed at creating chaos and undermining the Egyptian state. Thursday's raids appear to have backed the accusations with action.
Special forces units of the Egyptian military, accompanied by state prosecutors and uniformed and plain-clothes coppers, searched non-governmental organization offices in Cairo and other Egyptian cities.
MENA, the Egyptian state news agency, said prosecutors were seeking evidence of foreign funding. In Egypt, such funding must be approved by the government.
The raids, particularly those on American pro-democracy and human-rights organizations, mark a significant deterioration in the relationship between Washington and one of its closest military allies in the Middle East. The U.S. government has supported Egypt's military since the 1970s, with $1.3 billion in annual funding that now amounts to an estimated 20% of its budget.
The U.S. State Department said it is "deeply concerned" over the raids. |