Saturday, March 3, 2012

Anger surrounds Obama's Administration's payout of NGO bail money in Egypt.


Anger surrounds Obama's Administration's payout of NGO bail money in Egypt.(BM).Cairo: Frustration and anger has surrounded the United States government’s decision to pay the bail for 19 American NGO workers in Egypt, which enabled them to leave the country late this week.
Activists and American citizens have voiced their surprise that US taxpayer money was used to release the workers from their court case in Egypt, which had sparked tension between Washington and Cairo in recent months.
The US State Department confirmed on Friday that they had indeed paid the $330,000 bail for each of the American citizens to be tried in the case.
I find it simply unwarranted. As an American living in Cairo, I know that if I were tried, because I don’t have political connections, it would be different. This is a lot of money and wrong to use on a court case,” said one American English-language teacher in the Egyptian capital. He told Bikyamasr.com that “the Egyptian anger over the use of money to deal with a trial, however, wrong, shows that corruption and bribes are still part of Egypt’s daily life. No wonder they are angry.”
The travel ban on the workers was lifted this week and the State Department on Friday said 13 foreign workers – 6 of them US citizens – had left Egypt on a private plane.
Egyptian activists condemned the use of money to free the workers from the trial. Although they voiced anger at the proceedings in the first place, they argued that by using financial power to remove the foreigners from the country, was not the right move.“We struggle daily to fight against the system. What about the Egyptians on trial? Are they not as important?” activist and anti-military junta protester Yussif Ahmed told Bikyamasr.com on Saturday. The human rights worker called for justice “instead of hiding.”He argued that “by using money to release the foreigners from the trial, the case will not be of as much international significance and the Egyptian workers are now to face major difficulties as the trial continues.”
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters that the money to pay the bail ultimately came from the US government, saying that the Obama administration had agreed to treat the legal expenses stemming from the incident “as part of the activities that the US government funds.”
The NGOs paid the bail out of money that they received from the US government,” she said. “We agreed to this because the situation arose in the context of the democracy promotion work that they were doing that we had funded and supported.”Nuland said that it was up to the US citizens who had left to decide whether to return to Egypt to face the charges.It is unlikely they will return, leaving many Egyptians and Americans living in Egypt angry over what they have said was a move of corruption.
This is unacceptable. Stealing away in the night shows the US is willing to accept the military control and forget about democracy and transparency,” added Ahmed.Hmmmmm........Under Islamic law, jizya is a per capita tax levied on a section of an Islamic state's non-Muslim citizens, who meet certain criteria. The tax is/was to be levied on able bodied adult males of military age and affording power,(but with specific exemptions), From the point of view of the Muslim rulers, jizya was a material proof of the non-Muslims' acceptance of subjection to the state and its laws, "
Read the full story here.

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