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The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights Annual report 1999-2000 |
eohr@eohr.org info@eohr.org
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Introduction
Section One Section Two : Section Three Section Four |
The Human Rights Situation in Egypt Introduction The Egyptian Organization For Human rights (EOHR) issues its eleventh annual report on the situation of human rights in Egypt in 1999 and 2000. This report is one of the most effective mechanisms of monitoring and documenting the situation of human rights in Egypt according to the information received by the organization throughout the year, and verified and documented by the field work unit. It is worth noting that the human rights violations included in this report, however serious they may be, do not necessarily represent the actual scale or number of violations but only those which have come to the attention the EOHR - which it has been able to verify and document. This report includes verified information received by EOHR according to specified working mechanisms which the EOHR has developed throughout the period of sixteen years including: First: Receiving the Information and complaints from the citizen and following up the complaints published in newspapers and regional press media. Second Receiving the information and communications from EOHR regional committees. Third: The work of the field work unit, which verifies and documents the information as follows: 1. Meeting people with complaints and sending these complaints to the competent authorities as well as enclosing the reply as a basic document. 2. Visiting the areas that witnessed major human rights violations. 3. Visiting prisons and meeting the families of the prisoners and detainees. 4. Observing or attending interrogations relevant to human rights issues . The report records the human rights situations in three chapters : Chapter one: Reviews and evaluates the main legislative , judicial rulings and procedures related to human rights in 1999 and 2000. Chapter two: Documents the major human rights violations whether committed by governmental or non-governmental bodies. Chapter three: Covers the EOHR 's activities on the level of documenting and observing, the level of supporting and spreading human rights culture/awareness and eventually the issue of women's legal aid. Chapter Four: In addition to which represents the crisis faced by the EHOR during 1999-2000 due to the referral of the organization's Secretary General to trial and the refusal of the Ministry of Social Affairs to register EOHR. In this introduction, the basic features of the human rights situations in Egypt are summed up as follows: Legislative Framework: The government has continuously, since the 1980's, imposed the state of emergency. The Peoples' Assembly, has for the tenth time, approved the extension of the emergency law for another three years - until May 31, 2003. This law not only gives the executive authorities the power to put restrictions on the freedom of privacy, expression and opinion, peaceful assembly and establishing exceptional courts, but also attempts to give the executive body the authority to control society and its institutions. This is clear in the issuance of Law No. 153/1999 which comes as a shock to the governmental and non-governmental organizations in Egypt as the government disregarded all the challenges and recommendations presented by the NGOs. This law had been presented before the People's assembly. However, counter-democratic articles were added to it. Luckily, after one year, this law was ruled as being unconstitutional because it was not presented to the Shura Council. In 1999, Law no.14/1999 was issued to cancel article (219) of the penal law which states that if a man kidnaps a women and then he marries her, he does not deserve to be punished . The abolition of this law is an important step towards protecting women who are subjected to gross violations. A man who kidnaps a women then marries her to escape punishment, may not be punished for raping or kidnapping the women. In January 2000, law no. 1/2000 was issued which is known as the "El Khole' law" - Divorcing the woman from her husband by a court ruling. That law allows for the first time a women to end her marriage according to her wish by asking the judge to separate her from her husband on condition she gives her husband back all the money given to her by him. In the past, it was possible for the wife to get divorced in the case that her husband refused and that result in a lot of problems which threatens the Egyptian social family network. In 15/4/2000, a Law No. 13/2000 was issued to amend the provisions of Law No. 73/1956. This law concerns the right of exercising political rights as well as Law No. 120/1980 concerning the Shura Council states that the first article of this law " shall be substituted by article 4 of paragraphs 2,3,34,36 of Law No. 73/1956 concerning the exercise of political rights. These amendments have followed the several recommendations forwarded by and from organizations and civil associations in Egypt for the necessity of the comprehensive judicial supervision of elections in Egypt - moving away from the administrative pattern - towards achieving a democratic atmosphere in which to control the elections in Egypt. The elections, however, lack the entire supervision by the judiciary in the phase of the candidates' campaigns in streets as well as those held at electoral conferences. Candidates are denied media and television coverage of their campaign's and proposed programs; and it is very rare for candidates to campaign through the use of the media and television, however a few (pro-government candidates' campaigns) are given media exposure. Second the right to life: The right to life was subjected to grave violations as the EOHR has reported the death of 67 people due to several reasons including torture in police stations, ill-treatment of prisoners, poor health conditions in prisons, as well as the polices' use of firearms - as was witnessed in the El Koshh Incident at the beginning of 2000. On the other hand, the EOHR has documented the death of 22 individuals who were believed to have been killed inside prisons and other detention centers during 1999 and 2000. The EOHR has monitored the death of 9 people due to the unwarranted use of firearms by the police to disperse demonstrations and peaceful assemblies. The EOHR has also reported the deaths of 21 people, who lost their lives in the bloody events which took place in the village of Al-Koshh in the Sohag Governorate. Third: The right to freedom and personal safety: This report monitors the continuation of the blatant violations of the right to freedom and personal safety. There is also a documentation of the continuation of previous policies such as the recurrent detention of the armed Muslim Brotherhood and their imprisonment for about 6 months pending investigations. The EOHR believes that preventive imprisonment is utilized as a form of punishment, threatening the right to freedom of life and personal safety. EOHR has also monitored the continuation of the practice of illegal detention of citizens in addition to the torturing and ill treatment of these people. Fourth: Coercive and involuntary disappearance: The EOHR has monitored new cases of disappearances during the period of 1999 - 2000. The cases of disappearances which the EOHR has reported since 1992 until 2000 accounts for a total of 55 missing individuals. The fate of 17 people has been determined as they were discovered to be located within the Egyptian prisons, however, the fate of the others has, as of yet, not been determined. Fifth: Treatment of prisoners and detainees: No positive steps were taken towards the bad prison conditions , the ill-treatment of prisoners and the detainees as well as depriving them from their human rights guarantee to them by the Egyptian constitution and the international covenants on human rights. The EOHR monitored the continuation of the following : 1. Torture and ill-treatment. 2. Lack of medical care, bad living conditions, malnutrition and the pollution of drinking water . 3. The prohibition of education. 4. Banning visits and the suffering of the prisoner's families during the visits. Sixth: Military trials: Despite the decreasing number of military trials during 1999 and 2000, the EOHR is still extremely worried about the continual referrals of civilians to military courts which lack most constitutional and international safeguards and the guarantee for fair and impartial trial as well as the expansion use of death penalty after quick procedures without giving the defendant enough time to prepare his defense. Over the period 1999-2000, there were the trial of the "Returnees from Albania" and the trail of "Professional Syndicate Leaders" before military courts. The State Security's Emergency Supreme Court handed down three military verdicts against civilians as well as referring the defendants to this the military trials in the cases of Beni Suef and Al-Minya in which 14 defendants were accused. Seventh: Freedom of opinion and expression The deteriorating state of the freedom of opinion and expression has continued especially on the level of the freedom of press and of journalists. The EOHR has observed that the issuing of prison sentences has been used as a method on the administrative level so as to facilitate intervention in determining the permissible limits regarding the freedom of expression; other forms of intervention include the banning of publications, cessation of the circulating of newspapers, and confiscation of books. Journalists are investigated by the State Security Prosecution in cases of publication such as the case of Abas-El Trabily - the Editor-in-Cheif of "El-Wafd" Newspaper, Mohamed Abd el-Aleem - an editor in the same newspaper , as well as Hanan Abu el-Zabaa, Galal Aref, Layla Abdel Hamid and Gamel Dosouki who are journalists in "El Wafd" Newspaper. They were investigated in libeling and slandering accusations. The parliamentary elections of the Peoples' Assembly in 2000-2005 witnessed the continuation of assaults against journalists due to their work. During the previous two years , the authorities confiscated the issue no.14 of " Al Aa'la" Newspaper . The Supreme press council confiscated the issue no. 1 of " Sout Al Ommah" Newspaper on 28/2/1999. Moreover, the security body confiscated the novel" The Killing of the Old Man" written by Ibrahim Essa. Moreover, the publishing directorate refused to establish many new independent newspapers. Eighth: The right to peaceful assembly and strike: The EOHR monitored the escalation in the violation of the right to peaceful assembly and strike. The EOHR believes that the right to peaceful assembly and strike is violated by the use of the collective punishment as oppressive measures taken by security forces against civilians. In this context, EOHR monitored the use of the collective punishment on the level of villages and towns in the different governorates of the country (Cairo - Giza - Ismailia - Munufiya - Qena). The collective punishment included the use of firearms and rubber bullets to disperse gatherings, demonstrations and peaceful strikes which is followed by the arbitrary arrest of the demonstrators and the others. Nine: Political participation: Although of the fact that the electoral process of 2000 was under complete judicial supervision that led to positive result, the EOHR field work team observed the following remarks: 1. Using local authorities in supporting government candidates 2. Inconvenient legislative climate and the emergency law. 3. Restrictions on the political parties 4. Poor participation by women 5. The police went beyond their role in securing the electoral process 6. 6-Journalists were assaulted by the policemen during the media coverage of the elections Tenth: The right to form parties, organizations and unions: During 1999 - 2000 the political committee continued to reject applications for the establishments of new political parties. This report witnessed the rejection of the establishment of the El Nile el-Democrati, Eslah, Mubarak El Nahda, El Karama, El Gomhory, Misr 2000, and the El Trabot El Arabi Parties. On the other hand, the EOHR welcomed the electoral procedures of the Lawyers' Syndicate as well as the EOHR followed with deep concern the dilemma of the professional syndicates in Egypt which include imposing guardianship on the Engineering association and on the teachers and architecture associations. Under this theme, the report mentioned the developments during 1999 and 2000 in the New Islamic institutions law and the stance of the EOHR towards this law as well as the refusal of the administration to register EOHR as a non-governmental organization. The EOHR presents this report on the situation of human rights throughout 1999 and 2000 to the public in the hope that it will spur civil society institutions and other active bodies to join efforts so as to improve the situation of human rights in Egypt. By confronting any human rights violations, regardless to the identity of the perpetrators or the victims. Through this report, EOHR also appeals to the authorities to amend the laws that are in non-conformity with international human rights standards , and to put an end to all the security measures and practices that run counter to Egypt's commitments as a state party to the international human rights instruments. The main features of the situation of human rights in Egypt are presented in this context according to the information received by EOHR. |
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