02/10/2017, 13.52
Egypt
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Police shut down Al-Nadim Centre, an NGO dedicated to victims of violence and torture

by Loula Lahham

The authorities suspend one of the country’s main human rights organisations. The doorman to its building has been detained for questioning. The Centre provides psychological support and social rehabilitation to victims. Activists and NGOs complain of the growing crackdown against human rights associations.

Cairo (AsiaNews) – Egyptian police yesterday closed down the Al-Nadim Centre, one of Egypt’s foremost human rights organisations.

The NGO is well-known for its action against allegations of human rights violations, and in the rehabilitation of former prisoners who have been tortured.

On its Facebook account, Aida Seifal-Dawla, the NGO’s founder, said that when the staff arrived at the premises on Thursday morning, they found the doors had been sealed by police and the doorman of the building had been taken in for questioning.

This measure comes after the government and its agencies tried several times to close it down. This is the third time over the past year.

A year ago, the Centre began a legal struggle against a court decision to shut it down, when the authorities ordered its closure.

Egypt’s Health Ministry at the time had said that the Centre had violated unspecified regulations, but for the Centre’s director, the ruling was politically motivated.

Established in 1993, the Al-Nadim Centre provides victims with psychological support and social rehabilitation and engages in media campaigns against the use of torture in prison.

It regularly drafts and publishes reports on violations committed by security forces as well as killings and torture in Egyptian prisons.

Human rights groups claim that many arrests are not reported, an allegation the Egyptian government has denied, despite Al-Nadim's January 2017 report that shows the opposite.

According to some observers, this decision to shut the centre down must be seen as part of the government's recent crackdown on civil society organisations and the country’s opposition.

The Al-Nadim Centre is one of a number of NGOs under investigation for receiving illegal foreign funds.

Amnesty International strongly condemned the recent decision, saying the Centre is one of the only relief outlets for victims of torture and forced disappearances.

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