HIGHLIGHTS: American Move Insincere & Aimed at American & Not Egyptian Interests: Rights Activists||Public Image of Human Rights Activists in Egypt: Moneymaking " Human Rights Boutiques" || Human Rights Activists Fail in Creating Grass Roots Movement in Egypt|| STORY: Egyptian rights activists said Friday cutting additional aid to Egypt to protest the imprisonment of an Egyptian-American activist will make it harder for the country's already battered civil groups to campaign for greater freedoms and will fuel more anti-U.S. sentiments.

The activists said the U.S. move was insincere and was meant to create the illusion that Washington was cracking down on the region's authoritarian regimes.

"When we want reform, we want it for Egypt, and not because of the United States," Abdel-Moneim Said, director of the prestigious al-Ahram Center for Strategic and Political Studies, said.

"Do they really want to promote human rights in Egypt? There are other ways to do it," Negad Borai, a lawyer and a human rights activist, said.

Ibrahim, 63, a sociology professor at the American University in Cairo, was convicted last month on charges of embezzlement, receiving foreign funds without authorization and tarnishing Egypt's image.

In a retrial, Ibrahim was sentenced to seven years in prison in a case international human rights groups and American and European governments have said was a sign of a muzzled civil society in Egypt.

With the United States putting financial pressure on Egypt, hard hit by difficult economic times, activists fear the move would provoke a wave of rage against them and the United States.

MONEYMAKING " HUMAN RIGHTS BOTIQUES"

Civil and human rights groups have for years been stymied by local perceptions that they operate as agents for foreign governments, mainly because of their dependence on foreign funding. They are often referred to in the local media as moneymaking "human rights boutiques."

Hisham Kassem, chairman of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights, said the groups have "failed to develop a grass-roots movement and we lived on that (foreign) support."

"It would be a mistake to return to that illusion again," added Kassem, whose group, the oldest in the country, has for almost two decades failed to get a government license.

Kassem called the U.S. move "a bluff," saying the civil groups cannot afford to be "hit on the head by the Americans" and insulted further by the Egyptians. "We don't need this."

Borai, who closed down his democracy advocacy group during a row over tougher regulations for the groups, said the U.S. administration took the measure to appease U.S. public opinion and "cover up ... for America's support" of authoritarian regimes in the region.

The United States "does not really care to improve human rights. It is happy that the Egyptian government represses political groups" that can threaten U.S. interests, such as Islamic fundamentalist groups, which are also affected by human rights abuses, Borai said.

Playing the aid card to apply pressure to Egypt's government is "not wise," and will benefit fundamentalist forces in Egypt by inciting more resentment toward the United States, said, the political analyst who was also a character witness in Ibrahim's two-year trial.

Ibrahim should be exonerated through the Egyptian legal system, not through pressure from Washington, Said.

"This is a signal of (U.S.) displeasure, but I am not sure it is the right way to do it in such a public manner," said.

PHOTO CAPTION

Saad Eddin Ibrahim, a professor of sociology at the American University in Cairo who holds dual U.S.-Egyptian citizenship and is a high-profile human rights activist in Egypt, waits for his defence hearing session in a Cairo court cage on July 27, 2002. Egyptian rights activists say cutting aid to Egypt to protest the imprisonment of Ibrahim will make it harder for the country's already battered civil groups to campaign for greater freedoms and will fuel more anti-U.S. sentiments. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)