CAIRO — The National Council for Human Rights (NCHR), an Egyptian state-owned institution whose members are appointed by the president, held the first meeting of a series of talks March 11 with human rights civil society organizations to discuss the human rights situation in the country and examine the organizations’ demands for the coming period.

The meeting is the first with civil society organizations, which have long been accused by the current regime of colluding with foreign parties.

According to various sources who spoke to Al-Monitor, the meeting was attended by Gamal Eid, a human rights activist and director of the Arab Network for Human Rights Information; Mohamed Lotfy, executive director of the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms (ECRF); Hossam Bahgat, executive director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights; Mohamed Abdel Salam, executive director of the Association of Freedom of Thought and Expression; Mohamed Zaree, director of the Egypt Program at the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies; and Ahmed Abdel Naby, executive director of the Regional Center for Rights and Liberties.

All the participants of this first-of-its-kind meeting between the NCHR and civil society organizations — with the exception of the ECRF — are being investigated in Case No. 173 of 2011, whereby travel bans and confiscation orders were issued against the organizations’ directors.