CAIRO — If human rights defender Nancy Okail were to return to Cairo today to visit her twin toddlers, she would be imprisoned.
The former director for Freedom House in Egypt, Okail fled to Washington last year when it became clear that trumped-up charges against her and 42 other nongovernmental organization workers were sticking. A high-profile raid of their offices in the last days of 2011 by the then military government was followed by indictments accusing staff of working for unlicensed institutions and receiving illegal funds.