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The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights Annual report 1999-2000 |
eohr@eohr.org info@eohr.org
eohr@link.com.eg
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Introduction
Section One Section Two : Section Three Section Four |
The Human Rights Situation in Egypt Violations of Human Rights 2000-2001 Second: The Right to Freedom and Personal Safety This year has witnessed a continuation in the blatant violations of the right to freedom and personal safety, disregarding provisions of the constitution and the international human rights agreements ratified by the Egyptian government. On the one hand, the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) did not witness any visual improvement with regard to arbitrary detention by administrative decrees issued by the Ministry of Interior violating that law and manipulating the court ruling. On the other hand, The EOHR signaled an expansion in the violation of the right to freedom and personal safety to include people who have no connection to the events of violence. This is clear in the increasing number of criminal detainees. The EOHR noted that the number of criminal detainees in 1999 and 2000 has increased to reach 2000 detainees. Moreover, the EOHR witnessed an alarming increase in the number of persons arrested for belonging to political and intellectual opposition trends. This is especially true with members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group. Finally, the EOHR noted the continuation of abusive detention of civilians, including the police of "hostage-taking." Torture and ill-treatment of detainees remains in action. 1- Recurrent Political Detention: Recurrent detention remains a blatant violation of the right to freedom and personal safety. It is a manifestation of the state's lack of respect to the international standards regulating the state of emergency as stipulated in Article 4 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), ratified by the Egyptian government. The state authorities exploit Article 3 of the Emergency Law which allows the detention of persons who are suspected to be dangerous on public security and order. Incidents monitored by the EOHR point out that the Interior Ministry overused this article indifferent to the final acquittal court rulings obtained by many of the detainees. The ministry avoids implementing those rulings by re-detaining them using administrational detention decrees. The EOHR regrets that security authorities did not respond to any of its frequent appeals for the immediate release of detainees who with final acquittal rulings. Despite the difficulty of knowing the exact number of the victims of recurrent detention, the EOHR fieldwork and the complaints it receives from families suggest that thousands of citizens are subjected to this violation. Detainees who obtained acquittal decrees but were re-detained in 1999 & 2000: 32 Names The EOHR observed a double-standard policy in the state's approach towards the implementation of the rulings of both military and emergency high state security courts. While officials rush to implement the guilty verdicts of those courts, they refuse to release the dozens of defendants who are ruled innocent. None of the 20 defendants who received not-guilty rulings from the military court in the military case 8/1998, known as the "Returnees from Albania" case, have been released until this moment. Issuing administrational detention decrees to keep prisoners who served their sentences in jail is a grave, blatant violation of the judicial rulings and an assault on the independence of the judiciary. Names of those acquitted & the dates of their detainment 11 Names Names of detainees acquitted 28 Names 2- The Increase of the Occurrence of Coercive Detention: The EOHR observed that the Years 1999 & 2000 witnessed an increase in the campaigns to arrest dozens of citizens who do not belong to any political organizations.Those citizens are usually detained in custodies without legal basis for various reasons, such as rendering compliments to somebody, forcing a defendant to confess and other illegal motivations monitored and documented by the EOHR's delegations and its representatives in different governorates. Below are Case Studies 1. Ali Mohamed Ali Ibrahim Detained at the Basateen Police Station on 15 April, 2000 and kept in custody for 3 days for no legal reasons. A suspicion report was filed against him later. 2. Antar Hassan Ali Detained on 4 April, 2000 at the Imbaba Police Station. Although the public prosecution ordered his release, he remained in custody and incommunicado at the police station for no legal reason until 12 April, 2000. 3. Ahmed Desouqi Hassan Detained on January 12, 2000 at the Giza Police Station. Public prosecution released him on bail but he remained in custody. 4. Mabrouk Sayed Ahmed Detained on December 23, 1999 at the Boulaq Abul Ela Police Station for no legal reason. He remained in custody until January 19, 2000. 5. Sayed Fathi sayed Detained on March 6, 2000 at the Fayoum state Security Administration. He remained in custody until March 16, 2000 and again until March 22, 2000. 6. Elsayed Eleiwa Ali A private guard of an Agriculture Ministry-owned piece of land, was detained on July 16, 1999 at the Basateen Police Station and pressured to give information on a murder that happened at his work place.He was never registered in the police station's books or referred to the public prosecutor questioning. On July 22, 1999, his son Samir and his daughter Shadia went to the police station to exclaim about his presence. They were both detained for one day and the son was physically assaulted to force information out of his father. The EOHR filed reports to officials requesting that they investigate the incident and release Elsayed. 7. On August 27,1999, Ahmed Abdel Ma'boud Arafa, Police officer with the rank of captain and head of Talrak Police checkpoint headed a mission on the Sufeya Road. Accompanied by the head of the intelligence forces of the district of Awlad Saqr, he detained several people who happend use the road. He also broke into a wedding party held at the village and arrested the bridegroom and some of the guests and took them to the checkpoint.The villagers gathered infront of the police checkpoint and called for the release of the detainees. Suddenly, the officer Abdel Ma'boud came out of check point and shot the gathering with the rifle of one of the soldiers, injuring Nadia Abdel Baqi in her right eye. The officer also staged a campaign of arbitrary detention in the village arresting 14 people who were later accused of holding an illegal gathering and using force against the authorities. The prosecutor ordered their detention for 15 days Following is the list of the names and ages of the people detained 1. Hamdi Abdel Raouf aged 32 yrs, 2. Elsayed Mohamed Al Ashmawi aged 22 yrs, 3. Salah Mohamed Ashmawi aged 14 yrs 4. Ramadan Ibrahim Al Ashmawi aged 45 yrs, 5. Mohamed Ibrahim Abul Roos aged 40 yrs, 6. Salah Ibrahim Abul Roos aged 20 yrs 7. Sayed Ibrahim Abul Roos aged 25 yrs, 8. Ashraf Elsayed Abdel Geleel aged 30 yrs, 9. Ibrahim Elsayed Al Ashmawi aged 25 yrs 10. Mohamed Elsayed Al Ashmawi aged 20 yrs, 11. Abdel Latif Taha aged 20 yrs, 12. Mohamed Metwalli Hegazi aged 25 yrs 13. Mohamed Ibrahim Abul Roos aged 17 yrs 8. Mostafa Mahmoud Mohamed Hamed, aged 26, and Ahmed Mahmoud Mohamed, aged 15, were arrested on March 26, 2000. They were arrested by a squad from the Zagazig (2) Police Station pending investigation on charges that had yet to receive final verdicts. The prosecutor ordered their release but they remained in custody at the police station until April 19, 2000. Both of them were reported of being subjected to torture to force them to confess their involvement in some crimes. The prosecutor recorded their injuries and referred them to a health inspector. The EOHR filed reports to officials requesting them to investigate the incident. 9. On August 22, 1999, a squad from the Verdict-executing Unit of the Sherbin Police Station arrested 11 people from Tor'at Ghoneim village for no legal reason and kept them in custody until August 26,1999. The detainees were neither registered in the police station's books nor referred to any judicial authority for questioning. The arrest happened while the unit was looking for persons who have verdicts to serve at the village. The detainees were: Ibrahim Ateya Rabih, Elsayed Hamed Shehab Eddin, Abu Saleh Mohamed Salateen, Ateya Mohamed Salateen, Elsayed Abdel Rahman, Gomaa Abdalla Awad, Ahmed Foad Mansour, Ibrahim Al Moghazi, Mohamed Abdel Alim, Tahseen Ibrahim, Hassan Al Beili Khedr. The detainees reported to the EOHR's representative that they were subjected to mistreatment, insults and physical assaults by the police station's officer.The EOHR filed reports to officials to investigate the incident. 10. On December 13 ,2000, Ayman Kamal Ali Sobeih, Wail Kamal Ali Sobeih, Abdel Nasser Ibrahim Abdel Fattah- Ahmad Gamal Ahmed Heikal, Hossam Mohamed Sherbini and Ahmed Mohamed Morsi were arrested pending investigation in a case of public property theft.They were questioned by the prosecution on 14 January 2000 and detained for four days pending investigation. The case was registered in report 5/200 at Al Khanka Police Station. On January 17, 2000, the investigation judge ordered their release but they still remained in custody at the same police station. On January 18, 2000, Ahmed Mohamed Mursi managed to escape from the police station and headed to the Kanka prosecutor's office where he reported on the fact that he and his inmates were kept in custody and tortured. The prosecutor referred him to the forensic doctor to check his injuries.The others were not released before 30 January 2000 and families learned they were transferred to the Banha Police Center. On January 31, 2000, the detainees' families filed a report to the Attorney General of Banha Prosecution who delegated prosecutors to the Banha Police Station. The delegation found the detainees and the prosecution head ordered their release, an order which still was not put in action as the detainees remained in custody in an unknown place. The EOHR filed reports to officials calling for an investigation of the illegal detention and torture of those citizens between January 17 and February 9, 2000 11. On May 2, 1999, a fight took place between the Naqqal Island-resident Mohamed Ramadan and the Qafaei Island-resident Mohamed Mustafa. Residents from both islands joined the fight leading to massive clashes in which one person died and others were injured. Consequently, a police force broke into houses at Al Qafaei Island and destroyed furniture.They detained nine women and took them as hostages to force their male relatives to give in themselves.The seven women detained at Qambish Police station were: Ihsan Abdel Latif Mahmoud aged 52 yrs, I'timad Mohamed Abdel Wahab aged 48 yrs, Bahiga Ahmed Hassan aged 30 yrs, Nadia Mohamed Abdel Hamid aged 35 yrs, Souqa Qassem Ebeid aged 30 yrs, Soad Abdel Salam Qorani aged 35 yrs, Afkar Abdel Mohsen aged 55 yrs. The other two women; Gamalat Moqbel Rezq aged aged 55 yrs and Safaa Mursi aged aged 35 yrs were detained at Baya Police Center.The women remained in custody for three days for no legal reason. They were never referred to a judicial authority for investigation. 12. On December 22,1999, an argument took place between Officer Nagui Abul Ma'aty of the Tanta traffic police and a driver called Farouq Kamel. Some passers-by interfered against the driver and physically assaulted him. When some other passers-by tried to help the driver escape and to take the officer's gun, the officer fired his gun haphazardly killing Gamal Sha'ban Abdel Salam and wounding others. The infuriated people set the police car on fire and blocked the traffic, attacking cars and buses that existed in the scene. this led to the arbitrary detention of these 14 people: Ibrahim Elsayed aged 29 yrs, Ismail Mohamed Ahmed aged 23 yrs, Mohamed Zaki Elsayed aged 35 yrs, Said Sayed aged 44 yrs, Mohamed Hassan aged 31 yrs, Said Mustafa aged 27 yrs, Mohamed Abbas aged 23 yrs, Saad Ahmed aged 25 yrs, Mustafa Ibrahim aged 27 yrs, Mohamed Hassanein aged 23 yrs. Karim Hassanein aged 33 yrs Mohamed Abul Azm aged 40 yrs, Wael Farouq aged 20 yrs, Mostafa Al Desouqi aged 25 yrs. They were referred to the prosecution accused of holding an illegal gathering, causing strife, and destroying public property. They were ordered detained for four days pending investigations. 13. On 29 September, 1999, a woman and her daughter were murdered at the village of Manshaat Al Amar. Since then, officers from the Toukh Police Station have been arbitrarily arresting people from the village and other neighboring villages for no legal reason or just for being suspects. Detainees reported being subjected to physical assault and torture to confess that they committed the crime. Some of those detainees remained in custody for over 20 days including: Meanwhile, a large number of members of Islamic groups, mainly the Muslim Brotherhood, were arrested and referred to the High State Security Prosecution, which in turn issued decrees to keep them in temporal detention for belonging to an outlawed organization. The EOHR also documented the illegal coercive arrest of hundreds of citizens, who were detained in police stations and were subjected to severe torture to force information out of them on criminal cases. With regards to political opposition, the EOHR's monitoring and documentation during 1999 and 2000 signaled a remarkable expansion in the arrest campaigns led by State Security Investigation forces to arrest members of the Muslim Brotherhood. Below are some cases documented by the EOHR in 1999 and 2000: On 15 April 1999, State Security Investigation forces in Kafr el-Sheikh arrested Kamel Sharaf (businessman), Abdel Nasser Antar Muwafi (teacher), Khaled Mohamed Abu Oug (teacher), Mohamed Fayez Sudan (teacher), Ali Ali Khalil (engineer), Sami Sayed Sharaf (engineer), Abdel Ghani Hamdi (businessman), and Mohamed Ahmed Al Banna (worker). They were all arrested at their houses and referred to the Baltim prosecution. They were later detained for 15 days pending investigations for belonging to an outlawed organization. On 14 February 1999, State Security forces in Alexandria arrested Ibrahim Khalil Al Zaafarani, Ali Abdel Fattah Ali, Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim, Hamdi Mahmoud Abdel Halim, Ossama Mohamed Gado, Mahmoud Abdel Mo'men Elsayed, Abdel Nasser Ali Abdalla and Ibrahim Elsayed. They were referred to High State Security Prosecution in Cairo facing charges of belonging to an outlawed organization and the possession of publications promoting hatred of the regime and harming public security. They were detained for 15 days pending investigations. On 9 May 1999 State Security Investigation forces in Beni Sueif arrested Gamal Abdallah Habib (teacher), Ahmed Abdel Maqsoud (teacher) and Anwar Ibrahim (teacher). They were referred to the Fashn prosecution office, facing charges of belonging to an outlawed organization. They were later detained for 15 days and referred to State Security Prosecution in Cairo. On 13 November 1999, State Security Investigation forces in Menya arrested Gamal Mohamed Ahmed, Mohamed Shazli Mohamed, Yehya Kamel Abdel Ghaffar, Tharwat Abdel Fattah, Ahmed Zaghloul Ali, Adel Mohamed Hassan, Essam Gharib and Mohiy Mohamed. They were all referred to the High State Security Prosecution office, which ordered their detention for 15 days pending investigations for belonging to an outlawed organization. On 28 February 2000, State Security Investigation forces in Cairo arrested Mohamed Ibrahim Abdel Fattah Badawi, Hatem Mohamed Adam Hassan, Mohamed Hisham Eissa, Mustafa Farghali, Fathi Mahmoud Salem, Essam Ali Radawan, Hisham Ahmed Khairi, and Elsayed Mohamed Madi. They were all referred to the High State Security Prosecution which ordered their detention for 15 days pending investigations and charged them of "leading an outlawed organization that seeks to overthrow the current regime and reviving the activity of the organization in the area of downtown by recruiting new elements from student sectors". The last few months of the year 2000, before and during the three-phase parliamentary elections, witnessed an increase in the coercive detention of the supporters of some candidates. This led to the arrest of more than (400) persons from different political currents. Some of them did not even have any political affiliations, nor did they belong to any party. Persons arrested during parliamentary elections2000 397 Names |
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