Congress recently required the State Department to certify that Egypt is making progress toward democracy before aid can be disbursed. Lawmakers and administration officials say the crackdown on the civil society groups could violate the criteria set out in the law.

The prosecution could hardly have been better designed to provoke an American backlash. Although the charges against the 19 Americans are part of a broader crackdown on as many as nine nonprofit groups here, its most prominent targets are two American-financed groups with close ties to the Congressional leadership, the National Democratic Institute and the International Republican Institute. Both are chartered to promote democracy abroad with nonpartisan training and election monitoring.

The Americans facing criminal charges include Sam LaHood, director of the Republican Institute’s Egypt operations. He is the son of Ray LaHood , the secretary of transportation and a former Republican congressman from Illinois .

Egyptian Foreign Ministry officials have said the prosecution is a judicial matter outside their control. But the government, including the prosecutors, is under the direct authority of the military council. The investigation has also been accompanied by an escalating drumbeat of anti-American statements from Egypt’s government suggesting that Washington has been handing out cash to stir unrest in the streets. Some state news media, citing unnamed sources, have reported that one of the foreign-financed organizations paid illiterate laborers to join protests.

So far, the warnings from Washington appear to have only redoubled the determination of Egyptian authorities. At a news conference here on Sunday, Faiza Abu el-Naga, who oversees foreign aid, declared that the government “will not be pulling the plug” on the case, the state newspaper Al Ahram reported on its Web site.

“The government will not hesitate to expose foreign schemes that threaten the stability of the homeland,” she said.

Western diplomats have often observed that previous Egyptian governments facing public doubts at home have found it expedient to rally support by stoking feuds with Washington, which, despite its financial largess, is deeply resented here because of its support for Israel and its invasion of Iraq .

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But many human rights advocates here say some members of the council may believe their contention that “foreign hands” are stirring up trouble. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a former general close to the military council insisted that Washington was illegally financing youth activists in an attempt to destabilize Egypt and thus keep it dependent.

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Reports of the charges first appeared Sunday in state news media outlets. Representatives of the Justice Ministry could not be reached for comment.

A lawyer representing the Republican Institute and other groups under investigation said he had not received official notification. “I don’t know what’s going on,” said the lawyer, Negad el-Boraei. “Is it a psychological battle of some kind directed against the Americans?”

In Washington, a State Department spokesman said the United States was “deeply concerned” by reports of the charges and was “seeking clarification from the government of Egypt.”

Two other American groups backed in part by American government money, Freedom House and a journalism institute, are also part of the investigation, along with a German group and at least four Egyptian organizations that rely on foreign financing.

Of the 43 people facing charges, 19 are American, 16 are Egyptian, and 8 are of other nationalities, a Justice Ministry official said Sunday.

They have been charged with violating legal restrictions on nonprofit groups left over from Mr. Mubarak’s government that in effect kept virtually every independent civil society organization here in a kind of legal twilight subject to raids and arrests at any time.

The laws required licenses that were almost never granted, effectively precluded domestic financing and exerted government control over foreign contributions.

Neither the National Democratic Institute nor the International Republican Institute was licensed. But last fall, both were formally invited here as official observers of the parliamentary elections.

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In December, prosecutors raided the offices of as many as nine nonprofit groups, including the four American organizations, confiscating money, computers and files and shutting down their operations. In January, the authorities imposed a travel ban on at least six Americans, including Mr. LaHood, and several Europeans.

Last week, the State Department acknowledged that its embassy in Cairo had given shelter to at least three Americans caught by the travel ban and fearing arrest.

On Sunday, the Egyptian authorities extended the travel ban to all 43 people facing charges, The Associated Press reported. But by the end of Sunday, there were still no reports of arrests.