The Egyptian State council, a part of the Egyptian judicial system tasked with reviewing proposed legislation, approved a bill [text, PDF, in Arabic] Monday regulating and restricting non government organizations (NGO) operating in Egypt. The bill would require NGOs to “agree with the state’s plan, development needs and priorities” and ensure that “all data on financing sources, activities, protocols, and programmes” is reported to the government. The bill would also restrict in which areas NGOs can work, exclude work that covers political parties and require NGOs to receive prior permission from the Egyptian government [official website] before conducting activities such as field work or surveys. The proposed law comes with a maximum prison sentence of five years for NGOs violating it. After the approval by the State Council, the bill can be sent directly to the president for signature and would be in force once it has been signed. The bill has faced heavy criticism from human rights groups. Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] published a statement [text] criticizing that the bill has been rushed through parliament in secrecy and stating that it would not be possible to operate a non-government organization in Egypt after law passes, as all activities would in reality be controlled by the government.

The bill was approved [JURIST report] by the Egyptian legislature on November 14, where it also received heavy criticism from human rights groups. Egypt has in general been under fire lately for violating human rights and trying to silence protests. In September UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of peaceful assembly and of association Maina Kiai, warned [JURIST report] that the Egyptian government “seems to be systematically attacking civil society in an effort to silence its voice.” In June an Egyptian court froze [JURIST report] the assets of five human rights activists and three NGOs for allegedly accepting unauthorized funds from foreign countries.