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Egypt Court Sentences American Pro-Democracy Workers to Prison
(Los Angeles Times) Jeffrey Fleishman - A Cairo criminal court Tuesday sentenced at least 16 Americans to prison on charges of operating illegally funded pro-democracy organizations. Many of the Americans, most of whom fled the country last year, were sentenced in absentia to five years in prison on accusations of agitating unrest. Most of the Americans belonged to Freedom House, the International Republican Institute and the National Democratic Institute. The only American to appear in the Cairo courtroom - Robert Becker - was handed a two-year jail term. Becker, who worked for the National Democratic Institute, decided to remain in Cairo in solidarity with his Egyptian codefendants.