A cultural society on Monday canceled a theatrical performance addressing human rights awareness issues after receiving news that US Ambassador to Egypt Margaret Scobey planned to attend.
Osama Abdel Razeq, head of the Egyptian Union for Young Human Rights Organizations which sponsored the performance, revealed that the Jesuit al-Nahda Association for Scientific and Cultural Renaissance decided to cancel the event.
The association, according to Abdel Razek, cited "legal and security reasons” for the move though organizers previously obtained required security approvals.
The cancellation enraged those who planned to see the performance.
“The ambassador was preparing to attend the event until the organizers informed the embassy that the event was canceled,” US Embassy Press Officer Elizabeth Colton told Al-Masry Al-Youm. She declined to comment further on the cancellation.
The performance, which aimed to encourage political participation among Egyptians, was to be conducted by a group named Charisma. Commemorations honoring a number of human rights figures were set to follow the performance.
Four NGOs established the Egyptian Union for Young Human Rights Organizations on 9 September 2009. The union’s member organizations currently number 21.
