The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights
PRESS RELEASE

30 November 1998

Hafez Abu Seada, lawyer and Secretary General of the Egyptian Organization
for Human Rights (EOHR) has been summoned to appear before the Higher State
Security Prosecution tomorrow Tuesday, 1 December 1998, at 11 a.m. The
purpose of the summons is to give his statement as a witness in relation to
report number 945/98-Higher State Security Investigations for Emergency. It
must be noted that, on 24 November 1998, Mostafa Bakri, editor-in-chief of
El-Osboa newspaper, filed a report to the Public Prosecutor in which he
accused the EOHR of issuing a report on the incidents of Al-Kosheh in
return for a check for US$ 25,703 from the British Embassy with the aim of
harming Egypt.

Yesterday, 29 November, the EOHR Board of Trustees made a statement denying
any connection between the report issued by the EOHR on Al-Kosheh on 28
September 1998 and the mentioned check. The Board also expressed
satisfaction for the report, describing it as being objective and
impartial, and expressed its confidence that, based on the documents
available in the EOHR, the check was related to EOHR's Legal Aid Project
for Women and Disabled People. The Board affirmed its deepest regret for
the inaccurate information published by the newspaper, as the cost of EOHR
report on Al-Kosheh was LE 323 and was covered by the EOHR funds. The rest
of its costs were covered by the voluntary work of EOHR members. With
respect to the photocopy of the check published by the newspaper, it
transpired to the Board that it was from the British Embassy in Cairo on
behalf of the Human Rights Committee of the British House of Commons, and
that its purpose was to fund the EOHR Women's Legal Aid Project, started on
1 September 1995 (and later extended to people with certain disabilities).
The same embassy had funded this project in 1996. This specific check was
to fund the project for one further year, from September 1998 to September
1999. This documented evidence invalidates the newspaper's allegations
altogether.

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