With additional reporting by Hamdi El-Husseiny, IOL Cairo correspondent

CAIRO, June 3 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Egyptian Parliament adopted Monday, June 3, a law regulating the activities of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) despite strong objections from human rights groups.

The law, which Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was expected to ratify, was supported by 419 of the 454 members of the lower house of parliament, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reporter in parliament said.

Human rights activists said they were preparing a memorandum urging Mubarak not to ratify this law. This would replace a law three years ago that was thrown out by the high constitutional court after it failed, as required, to pass first through the upper house of parliament, the Shura Council. The new bill cleared the Shura Council late last month.

“This law seeks to impose the hegemony of executive power on civil society,” charged Hafez Abu Saada, secretary general of the Egyptian Organization of Human Rights.

Saada said earlier “he draft is worse than the previous law, because it allows the minister to dissolve an NGO by a simple administrative decision, without resorting to the courts.”

Twenty-eight members voted against the bill: six from the Marxist party Tagamu, four from the liberal Wafd party, and 18 independent MPs, including 12 who are backed by the banned but partially tolerated Muslim Brotherhood.

Seven independent members of parliament, including five backed by the Muslim Brotherhood, abstained from voting, AFP said.

Human rights groups in Egypt and abroad have opposed the legislation seeking to regulate the activities, financing and status of NGOs, which include human rights groups.

They charge it gives the government a free hand to dissolve organizations without resorting to the courts.

Activists are bothered by the legislation’s provision for “the Minister of Social Affairs to dissolve an NGO” if its article 17 is not respected. An amendment said the NGO concerned and the NGO union would have to be heard first.

“We are against any imposed governmental or security restrictions on the NGOs, and in case of any regulations, it is the court that should decide what to be done,” said Diaa ElDin Daowd, head of the Nasserite party.

Dissolving NGOs with administrative decisions, however, is totally unaccepted and contradicts any democratic headings in this society, he added.

Abdel Aziz Hegazy, former Egyptian prime minister and head of the union of NGOs, said the union did not receive any information regarding this law from the parliament or the government.

“We demanded a copy of the law, so we can discuss it and prepare a memo about our position regarding this law,” he added.

“I suggested that the article of dissolving NGOs be cancelled,” said Fahmi Ashid, Shura member. If the law was implemented with its current status, it will be contested because it will be an unconstitutional move that will take the country back to the past, he added.

On the other side, Mamdouh Nakhla, head of human rights center, Kalema, says that although that there are disreputable articles in the law, it tackles bold issues no one spoke about them in Egypt before.

“To implement the NGO, you only need to inform the Ministry of Social Affairs, and if no reply was issued during a 60 days period, the NGO can start functioning immediately,” he added.

Tahani El-Gibali, human rights activists and a member in the Arab lawyers union, said that it is very obvious the government is insisting this time on passing the law regardless of fundamental defects.

According to the law, the regional NGO that is taking Egypt as a headquarter, will be required to have the approvals of the Ministry of Social Affairs and that of the Ministry of the Foreign affairs, which will add more bureaucracy to the issue.