Egypt threatens center documenting torture with closure

The move against the Nadeem Center is part of an effort targeting a number of rights groups and non-governmental organizations that has raised sharp criticism of Egypt at home, as well as from the United States and Europe.

[...] the center faces a closure order from the Cabinet that has never been made public but is reportedly based on vague claims of violations of Health Ministry regulations.

Authorities have argued that they are acting to bring stability after five years of turmoil following the 2011 pro-democracy uprising that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

In response to international criticism of the foreign funding investigation, Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said there are tens of thousands of NGOs operating in Egypt, and the government is committed to enabling their work.

Egypt has faced international criticism over the case of Giulio Regeni, an Italian Ph.D. student whose brutalized body was found dumped by the side of a road, raising suspicion of police involvement.

"Burning by cigarettes, ripping off fingernails and dumping bodies, that's their style, and it's very common in disappearance cases," she said, sitting at a table in the center's sparse meeting room that is normally used for recording the testimony of victims.

The doctors provide individual and group therapy, and sometimes conduct medical exams.

Security authorities don't like "civil society organizations that are outside their control, especially in the field of human rights," Seif al-Dawla said.

Prominent investigative journalist Hossam Bahgat, rights advocate Gamal Eid and others have been barred from travel, and a court is considering whether to freeze the assets of Bahgat and Eid.