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EOHR demands that Agiza be tried by a civilian court.
31/3/2004
The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) welcomes President Mubarak's decision to annul the hard labour sentence handed down by a military court against Ahmed Hussein Agiza.
Pursuant to this decision Agiza will be retried in a different judicial administrative district.
While welcoming this decision EOHR demands that Agiza be tried by a civilian court.
Agiza was arrested and detained in 1982 .
He remained in detention until his release in 1983 after being cleared of charges.
In 1998 an in absentia sentence of life imprisonment with hard labour was issued against him in the "Albanian returnees" case.
He was convicted of being a member of a secret, illegally-founded organization, and of collaborating with others on a criminal pact aimed at the overthrow of the Constitution and the legal system, and which opposed the ruling regime.
On the 8th December 2001 Agiza was arrested in Switzerland and taken to Egypt.
His whereabouts remained unknown for more than a month after his arrival.
EOHR requested that the Egyptian authorities reveal where he was being detained in order to allow his family to visit him.
This they did on the 24th January 2001 in Tora Prison, as did Hafez Abou Seada Secretary General of EOHR in the capacity of his lawyer.
Abou Seada presented an appeal request to the Military Prosecutor General based on the criminal pact charge being invalid after the Supreme Constitutional Court judging Article 48 of the Penal Code unconstitutional.
EOHR demands that:
1. Agiza be tried by a normal judge and enjoy his full legal rights including his legal right to appeal.
He must be tried by a civilian court rather than a military court for the following reasons:
- Defendants tried by military courts lack many of the essential guarantees of a fair trial, such as; the right to prepare a defence, to consult their lawyer, the right of the defence to view documents connected with the case and the defendant's right to meet his lawyer in private
. Defendants in addition risk torture.
- When used to try civilians, military courts constitute exceptional courts.
They allow no appeal of their decisions to other courts and the soundness of their verdicts is consequently not subject to the scrutiny of higher courts.
Rather verdicts are approved by the President in his capacity as the head of the armed forces, or whichever armed forces officer deputizes for him.
2. An end to the Emergency Law in force since 1981 which is automatically renewed every three years without justification.
The Egyptian Government claims it is necessary to fight terrorism, but instead the Emergency Law attacks the right to a fair and impartial trial as guaranteed by the Egyptian Constitution and international human rights instruments.
EOHR launched its campaign against the Emergency Law "together to stop the Emergency Law" at the beginning of 2003.
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