NGO Live Blog

The public policies of Egypt's Nour Party, which represents the country's ultraconservative Salafi Muslim community, are anything but easy to predict. Today, Nour leaders have simultaneously come out in favor of media censorship and democracy-advocating, US-funded NGOs under investigation.

Nour Party chairman Emad Abdel Ghafour said that his party had gone to the US-based National Democratic Institute for training on public opinion polls and monitoring party manifestos and that "there's no doubt" their work "was a type of enrichment of political life".

On Wednesday, MPs from Ghafour's party expressed distrust for the media and requested that parliament sessions not be broadcast live.

“It’s irreligious to let people see government officials insulted,” Abdel Aziz al-Aqrasa said.

Earlier today, the Egyptian Justice Ministry released a list of 43 individuals indicted on charges of illegally receiving foreign funding and establishing civil society organisations without license.

Their names were published in the state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper in Arabic, along with their nationalities and whether the investigating judge considered them present or "fugitives". In such cases, we have written "absent".

There are 19 Americans, of whom 13 are listed as being "fugitives". All 14 Egyptians are listed as present.

International Republican Institute

Samuel LaHood (American)

Sherine Nafeet (American)

Christine Angel (Norwegian)

Dan Eric Tishk (American - absent)

Hans Chris (American - absent)

John George Toma (American)

Rida Khader al-Raya (Palestinian)

Osama Azizi (American Lebanese - absent)

Tanya Mark (American - absent)

Elizabeth Dugan (American - absent)

Ahmed Shawki Haikal (Egyptian)

Ahmed Abdel Aziz Abdel Aal (Egyptian)

Ahmed Oreib Adam (Egyptian)

Essam Borei (Egyptian)

National Democratic Institute

Julie Ann Hughes (American)

Almandin Kotovitch (Serbian)

Jodmir Milic (Serbian)

Layla Jafar (American - absent)

Robert Becker (American)

Mariana Konasevitch (Serbian)

Sitia Nilhaj (American)

Dana Zebakono (American - absent)

Ali Juda al-Haj Suleiman (Lebanese - absent)

Maroun Abdel Basir (Lebanese - absent)

Michael Jeans (American - absent)

Mohammed Ashraf Kamel (Egyptian)

Radwa Sayyid Ahmed - (Egyptian)

Hafsa Maher Halawa - (Egyptian)

Amin Mohammed Morsi - (Egyptian)

Freedom House

Charles Dan - (American - absent)

Al Sherif Ahmed Mansour (American - absent)

Amir Amin Jarrah - (Jordanian - absent)

Mohammed Ahmed Abdel Aziz - (Egyptian)

Nancy Gamel Akil - (Egyptian)

Basem Fathi Mohammed Ali - (Egyptian)

Magdi Moharrem Hassan - (Egyptian)

International Center for Journalists

Patrick Butler - (American - absent)

Natasha Tynes - (American - absent)

Megan Mitchell (American - absent)

Yehia Zakaria Ghaem - (Egyptian)

Islam Mohammed Foued - (Egyptian)

Konrad Adenauer Stiftung

Andreas Jacobs - (German)

Christine Margaret - (German)

Egypt's authorities have imposed a travel ban on four members of a US-funded pro-democracy organisation in a row over its activities, a member of an NGO with knowledge of the case told Reuters on Thursday, in a step expected to escalate tensions with the United States.

The four members of the International Republican Institute (IRI) include three US citizens. One is Sam LaHood, the IRI's
Egypt director who is the son of U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

"It is a de facto detention," the member of a non-governmental organisation (NGO) in Cairo told Reuters, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the case.

The judges investigating the case have charged the four with managing an unregistered NGO and being paid employees of an unregistered organisation, charges that could carry up to five years in jail, he said. The IRI had no immediate comment.

The group is in Egypt and has been forbidden to travel outside the country.

Egyptian security forces have stormed the offices of 17 human rights and pro-democracy groups. The ruling military said it is investigating how the groups are funded.

At least two US rights groups - the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the International Republican Institute (IRI) - were targeted in the operation. The US expressed deep concern over the raids and urged Egyptian authorities to immediately halt "harassment" of non-governmental organisation staff.

The US state department said the raids were "inconsistent with the bilateral cooperation we have had over many years", hinting it could review its military aid if they continued. Al Jazeera's Tom Ackerman reports.