Trial of Foreign, Egyptian Activists Begins in Cairo

The Egypt trial of dozens of democracy activists including Americans on charges of receiving illegal funding began in a packed courtroom on Sunday, despite Washington's insistence that the charges be dropped.

A prosecutor in the court in a Cairo suburb read out the charges against the defendants, saying their acceptance of illicit foreign funds had "detracted from the sovereignty of the Egyptian state."

An official with one of the targeted U.S. groups, who requested anonymity, said that only seven of the American defendants are still in the country, the others apparently having left before a travel ban was imposed on the suspects.

Most of the 43 defendants did not show up in court. An Agence France Presse correspondent said the 14 defendants who appeared denied they had committed crimes when asked by the judge.

Outside the courthouse, around 20 hardline Islamists staged a protest, holding banners of Omar Abdel Rahman, the blind Egyptian cleric jailed after a terrorism conviction in the United States.

Several of the American suspects have sought refuge in their country's embassy in Cairo, including Sam LaHood, son of U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood and head of the Egyptian chapter of the International Republican Institute.

The United States, the main foreign benefactor of Egypt's military rulers, has suggested that the trial of the activists may imperil that aid.

Washington provides about $1.3 billion annually in military aid to Cairo, in addition to development assistance.

A senior U.S. administration official said in the Moroccan capital Rabat late on Saturday that "intense" talks were under way to resolve the issue of the democracy activists.