NGO law a ‘test’ for Mursi

CAIRO - A draft law regulating Egyptian civil society groups has become a barometre of the Islamist government’s commitment to the ideals of the democratic uprising that brought it to power, with the text raising concerns both at home and abroad. President Mohammed Mursi, who referred the bill to the Islamist-dominated senate on Wednesday, pledged that he “does not aspire to control civil society,” in a departure from his overthrown predecessor Hosni Mubarak’s strongman tactics. NGOs in Egypt have denounced the bill, which regulates the funding and activities of non-governmental...