The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights

Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) states: "Every human being has the inherent right to life.This right shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life".
This right comes at the top of all the fundamental rights, which should not be violated even in exceptional circumstances.
In spite of that, the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) monitored violations of this right by Egyptian authorities in clear contravention of constitutional rulings and international covenants.
In the 1990s, EOHR reported confrontations between Egyptian security forces and militant Islamic groups.
These confrontations were the main source of the violation of the right to life in Egypt.
While such confrontations were taking place, other violations of the right to life were being committed by marshal courts' handing down death sentences.
EOHR considers this an outspoken violation of the right to life by Egyptian authorities.
The violation of the right to life reached its peak in the Luxor massacre perpetrated by militant groups in 1997.
This kind of violence stopped after the Luxor massacre, bringing a halt to confrontations between state security forces and the militant groups.
However, the violation of the right to life did not stop.
Deaths resulting from torturing within police stations continue as a main source of this violation.
This gravely concerns EOHR, especially that the legislative framework concerning this crime is hardly capable of ending this kind of crime.
Generally, EOHR can say that because of the aforementioned factors, there has been an obvious drop in the number of cases of the violation of the right to life.
However, we have confirmed that there are ongoing violations, often in the form of one of the worst transgressions, namely torture.

EOHR is also gravely concerned with crimes of vengeance; a social tradition, which represents a frank violation of the right to life by non-governmental parties.
What has influenced EOHR to highlight this issue, for the first time in its annual report, is the increase in the violence of this crime as represented in what is known as the 'Beit Alam' massacre in the Governorate of Sohag during 2002, where 22 persons were murdered.

EOHR considers vengeance crimes to have a unique character as they are connected to the traditional culture and the absence of an understanding of the state of law.
There is a deficiency in the role of the State in increasing awareness about this crime; particularly that it is known that this type of crime decreases where poverty and illiteracy rates are low.
In this report, EOHR presents 10 cases of violation of the right to life during 2002.
All of them were perpetrated inside police stations.

EOHR had doubts that the reasons for deaths were torture and its doubts were confirmed by court verdicts
. Since the beginning of its activity, EOHR has followed up the incidence of torture and maltreatment of citizens and has presented to the Egyptian authorities specific recommendations in order for them to adopt effective legal and practical policies to end torture crimes, to protect citizens from it, and bring the police officers involved in it to justice.
Unfortunately, throughout 2002, EOHR has not noticed a satisfactory response from the Egyptian authorities towards these and other recommendations, including recommendations from the Committee on the Elimination of all Forms of Torture.
However, EOHR noticed some improvement, as a number of police officers accused of torturing citizens to death have been brought to court.
The following are some of the cases recorded during 2002 by the EOHR, where victims died because of torture.

1- Medhat Fahmy Ibrahim Aly:
Medhat Fahmy Ibrahim Aly was a 35-year-old Egyptian citizen residing in the Customs Area, Alexandria Governorate.
Facts of the case began after the victim was accused of theft, (case number 1360 for the year 2002, Customs offences).
A group of police officers had broken into his home and did not find him, so they searched the place.
On his arrival back from Cairo on 10 March 2002, he went to the Customs Prosecutor and handed himself in to the police, who detained him at the investigation unit around 4:30 p.m. At around 7:45 p.m.
the same day, the victim died.
Some witnesses present inside the police station at the time said that police officers tortured him.
According to the complaint, which EOHR received from the victim's family, the following were the injuries found on the victim's body:

A cut on the right ear
Contusion under one eye and close to the chin
Contusions and abrasions on both arms
Sign of injection on his right arm.
Two long contusions on his back consistent with whip or stick marks.
Contusions on the lower abdomen
Contusions and traces of blood on his head

The family complained to the General Prosecutor.
After investigation, the case was recorded as number 1360 for the year 2002 Administrative, Customs.
The forensic report number 82 for the year 2002 (dated 23 April 2002) established that the existing injuries did not lead to the victim's death but rather the victim died as a result of asphyxia.
The first General Attorney issued a decision to put the case in front of the Misdemeanor Court.
Charges of using force and causing damage were brought against the investigation bureau adjutant and some of his assistants at the Customs police station.
The first hearing was meant to be on 29 December 2002 but it was postponed to 23 February 2003.

2. Shibl Mohammed Ibrahim:
Shibl Mohammed Ibrahim was a 23-year-old Egyptian citizen residing in Kafr al Sharka, Tanta.
Facts of the case began on 11 September 2002 at around 12:00 p.m., when the victim was arrested after being stopped by the police (vice squad) and was taken to, and detained in, the Tanta Security Bureau without any apparent reason and without informing his family. The police later informed the family he had died inside the Security Bureau.
The family complained to the General Attorney and requested a forensic investigation in order to find the cause and time of death.
The family also complained to other authorities, including the Minister of Interior and Deputy Minister of Interior in Tanta.
EOHR reported the incident to the authorities, (report number 562 on 5 September 2002).

3. Ahmed Khalil Ibrahim:
Ahmed Khalil Ibrahim was a 35-year-old Egyptian citizen residing in the Customs Area, Alexandria.
Facts of the case began on 1 October 2002, when, on his way home from work, the victim was stopped and detained by police officers.
On 4 October 2002, an officer and an inspector informed his family that the victim was a suspect in a particular case (details not mentioned) and asked for his older brother to accompany them to the station (the investigation unit).
In the police station, they informed the brother that the victim had died and that the body was with the Kum al-Dikka coroner.
According to the brother, he noticed the following injuries on the body:

Abrasions on both hands
Contusions in the axilla and above the elbow
Contusions below the knee
Abrasions on both feet

The family complained to the General Prosecutor, requesting an investigation as to the cause of death.
They accused the investigation officers of causing his death.
The family complained to the authorities, complaint number 560 on 5 November 2002
.
4. Mustafa Labib Hemdan Abu Zeid:
Mustafa Labib Hemdan Abu Zeid was a 25-year-old Egyptian citizen, residing in Shubra Misr, Cairo.
Facts of the case began after the victim had completed a one-year term of imprisonment for an offence.
While he was being transported to Shubra police station and as he was in the station waiting to be released, it was discovered that he was sentenced, in abstentia, to 3 years imprisonment for another crime.
He was presented to the prosecutor and his case was fixed to be heard in court on 23 June 2002.
He was sentenced to a one-year term of imprisonment and a fine of LE 100.
While at the police station waiting to be transported to prison on 3 July 2002, his family was informed that the victim had died.
He was taken to Shubra public hospital where the medical report mentioned the following injuries:

Contusions on chest, abdomen and back
Abrasions on both wrists
Bleeding from both ears
A wound on the lips

The family filed a complaint to the General Prosecutor.
After investigation, the case was recorded as case number 2867 for the year 2002, Administrative, Shubra.
The prosecutor is still investigating the case to determine the cause of death.
The prosecutor listened to witnesses.
EOHR reported the case to the authorities on 11 July 2002 (report number 420).

5. Mohammed Mahmoud Mohammed Othman:
Muhammad Mahmoud Muhammad Othman was a 25-year-old Egyptian citizen, residing in al-Faransawy Area, Old Cairo.
Facts of the case began on 27 May 2002 at around 8.30 p.m.
Patrol police officers stopped the victim on the promenade of the river Nile, in Old Cairo.
They attacked him in the street, tied his hands behind his back and beat him with sticks for more than 10 minutes.
The police took him in a police car to Dar el-Salam Hospital for a medical report.
The doctor refused to receive him because of the seriousness of his case.
He was then taken to Old Cairo police station.
On 28 May 2002, at approximately 6.00 a.m., the victim's family was surprised to see a convicted felon carrying his dead body to them.
The felon told them that the victim had died in the police station and that he had been ordered by one of the police officers to carry the body to the family's home.
The family's complaint said that the body had the following injuries:

A cut in the lower lip from inside
Injury to the left shoulder below the neck
Contusions at the back of the neck
Long contusions on the abdomen
Bluish discoloration on left side of chest
Traces of nasal bleeding
Swelling of the left eye

The family complained to the General Attorney of South of Cairo prosecutors, and to the head of Old Cairo prosecutors and reported the case in the Old Cairo police station (report number 5978 of the year 2002), accusing the police officers at this station of causing the victim's death.
EOHR reported the case to the authorities on 2 June 2002 (report number 372).

6. Ibrahim Omar Ibrahim Mustafa:
Ibrahim Omar Ibrahim Mustafa was a 29-year-old Egyptian citizen residing in Sakiat Mikki, al-Monib, Giza.
Facts of the case started on 8 August 2002 when the victim was detained in the Giza police station to begin an in abstentia sentence of 3 years imprisonment for escaping police surveillance.
When his father visited him in the police station on 9 August 2002 officers assured him that the victim was well, however they refused permission for the father to see his son.
On 10 August 2002, the father went to the police station at around 11:00 p.m.
where a police officer gave him his son's clothes and told him that his son had been electrocuted whilst trying to fix an electric light in the stations' toilet.
When the father went to receive his son's body from the Um el-Masryin Coroner, he noticed the following injuries on the body:

Abrasions and blood clots around the knees
Contusions on the neck, chest and shoulder
Electric burns on the fingers of both hands

The family complained to the General Prosecutor, requesting an investigation into the cause of death.
EOHR reported to the authorities on 5 November 2002 (report number 564).

7. Muhammad Muhammad Aly Shahin: was 44-year-old Egyptian citizen residing in Kafr el-Jezeirah, Zifta, Gharbiya Governorate.
8. Nabih Mohammad Abdel Fatah Aly Shahin: was a 33-year-old Egyptian citizen, residing in Kafr el-Jezirah, Zifta, Gharbiya Governorate.
Facts of the case of both victims (7 & 8) began on 18 June 2002, when both of them were remanded in custody at Zefta police stations' investigation unit because they were involved in a fight in an area between Kafr el-Jezirah and Kafr Shishta.
They were detained until 23 June 2002, when they were taken to the prosecutor, who ordered their release on a bail of LE 500 each.
However, the police did not release them and kept them in an unknown place until a new order was issued for their arrest and deportation to Wadi Natroun prison on 7 July 2002.
On 8 July 2002, their family was informed that the two victims had died in the prison as a result of eating a poisoned meal.
The following injuries were noticed on their bodies:

Bluish discoloration in the chest
Blood from the left ear
Nasal bleeding
The tongue swollen, twisted and protruding from the mouth

The family complained to the General Prosecutor on 10 July 2002. EOHR also reported the case to the authorities on 16 July 2002 (report number 423).

9. Sayed Khalifa Eissa: Was a 24-year-old Egyptian citizen, residing in Sokeil, Al-Warraq, Giza.
Facts of the case began on 26 January 2002 when the victim was going with a friend to visit some friends in Nasr City.
He failed to return home that day and his family waited until the second day.
When he still had not returned, the family informed the police in their area.
Someone informed them that the person that they were looking for was in the police station in Nasr City, and when they inquired in that police station, a police officer told the family that he had left a few days ago.
His body was later found on the motorway with the following contusions:

Wounds on both heels
Wounds in the region of the calves consistent with hanging from the legs
Wounds on both hands and on the top of both shoulders consistent with ligatures
Long contusions on the back consistent with whipping

The family complained to the General Prosecutor who began an inquiry into the cause of death, being detained without a valid cause and possible torture.
EOHR reported to the authorities.
The case was heard in court and a guilty verdict was passed on two officers for torturing the victim to death on 8 August 2002, they were each sentenced to three years imprisonment.

10. Ahmed Taha Mohammed Youssef (known as Magdy):
Ahmed Taha Mohammad Youssef was a 42-year-old Egyptian citizen residing in Abassiya, Cairo.
Facts of the case began on 23 February 2002, the second day of the Feast of Sacrifice (Eid al-Adha), when the aforementioned was surprised by al-Wayli police officers force enter his home and search for his brother who is accused in a cheque case.
When the police could not find his brother, they arrested Magdy and detained him in the investigation unit of al-Wayli police station in an attempt to force the brother to hand in himself.
While detained, some police officers beat the victim in different parts of his body. According to the complaint received by EOHR, the victim was exposed to the following whilst in detention:

Binding both hands behind his back with iron cuffs.
Punches and kicks to different parts of his body.
Beaten with handcuffs on his chest, at the back of his head and the lower part of the neck under the chin

Following this, the victim lost consciousness (or died) and was transferred to one of the hospitals for treatment where he was reported dead on arrival.
The report from the hospital said that the victim had contusions to different parts of the body and that death was the result of acute circulatory failure.
On the morning of the following day, 24 February 2002, the family started to take steps to bury the body.
They received the body at 8 a.m. accompanied by a number of security forces, police officers and police cars.
The route for the funeral was fixed by the police and they did not allow the family to make the prayers in the mosque next to his home.
The witness, who was also bound up with the victim, stated that one of the police officers hit the victim with handcuffs on different parts of his body.
The victim asked for a glass of water but he was ignored and about 20 minutes later, he died.