Section Three

EOHR issues its report concerning the phenomena of illegal detention in the police stations, centers and other detention places, putting in mind what follows this from ill treatment represented in insulting , beating , starvation and cutting any kind of communication between the detainees and their families or lawyers which deeply threatens the right of freedom and personal safety. In addition to what was a aforementioned, there is the torture of the detainees which leads to their death- in contrary to the role of police duties stated in the Egyptian law and constitute and agrees with the minimum principles of the behavior of the employees entitled to carry on the laws. These principles which was authorized by the General Assembly of the UN in December 1979 states in its 1^st article that all the employees entitled to carry on the laws all the time have to do their duties of serving society and protecting individuals from illegal actions. This must be done in a way convenient with their duties.

In this regard, the committee of human rights has clarified that those eprived of their freedoms “ shall not be subjected to any dificullities or form of restcitiosn but the restrictions originally imposed upon them…Those deprived from their freedom shall enjoy all the rights stated in the International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights, unless what is incompatible with the necessary restrictions caused by their existence in a closed zone”. The committee also stated that “ The respect of the inherited human dignity is a fundmental standard globally applied. The shortage of financial resourses is not an execuse for the inhuman treatment by any governemnr as it is obligated to supply the necessary facilities for all the detainees and prisoners.”

The EOHR has, before, presented  number of important recommendations to the Egyptian authorities to take the necessary procedures which should guarantee for the elimination of torture and ill treatment in police stations and centers.

The EOHR believes that confronting the wide spread of the negative consequences of torture can only be accomplished through issuing legislative procedures which guarantee the application of all the International Covenants and agreements concerning human rights as well as the articles of all the international covenants against torture and other cruel , inhuman and degrading treatment . In that regard, the EOHR has the following recommendations:

1- To ratify Articles 21 and 22 of the International Convention Against Torture, which would permit the UN Committee Against Torture to take up complaints brought to it by state parties to the Convention or individuals. If Egypt ratifies these two articles, this would only be evidence that the authorities have nothing to fear in the future, concerning their commitment to incriminating torture and ill treatment in prisons and other places of detention.

2- The amendment of article 126 of the penal Code in a way to go in line with the International Convention against torture and other cruel , inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment , ratified by Egypt , which defines torture to be any form of “ servant pain or suffering , whether physical or mental”. Thus, it does not necessarily have as its sole aim the coercion of confessions, as stipulated in the Egyptian Law.

3- The issuance of a legislation that acknowledges the right of civil plaintiffs to litigate directly before the Criminal Court in crimes which involve an aggression on personal freedoms, or the sanitation of the citizen’s privacy. It includes, inter alia, crimes provided for in article 126 of the penal code, which penalizes whoever subjects an accused person to torture, to force confessions out of him/her, in addition to articles 280 and 282 thereof, which penalize the act of wrongful, unlawful arrests.

4-The abolish of Law no. 121 of 1956 appertaining to the amendment of article 63 of the Law in Criminal Procedures. This law confines the right to litigate in public lawsuits against civil servants (including police officers) and whoever is regarded as one, to public prosecution. Recourse should rather be taken to the old system which used to grant the inflicted the right of direct litigation.

5-The issuance of a law that would provide for the adoption of the judicial police system, provided that it is affiliated to the Ministry of Justice. It shall be commissioned to conduct responsibilities of judicial seizure, and other tasks that would assist in enforcing justice and implementing rulings.

6- The inclusion, in the Law on Criminal Procedures, of the right of the accused to restore to a lawyer, when being interrogated in police stations.

7-The immediate investigation by the public prosecution in complaints it receives from individuals and organizations on the aggressions against those held in prisons and other places of detention.

8-The implementation of an administrative investigation that goes in parallel with the investigations conducted by the public prosecution with police officers who commit legal violations against citizens in police stations , and to penalize and hold them accountable thereto.

9-To create an independent and impartial body formed of judges, lawyers and doctors that would examine all allegations of torture in police custody, and to bring those responsible to justice. This body must be given access to all detention places and necessary information and be allowed to interview the victims. Its role should not be confined to the legal aspects, but should extend to the political, social and psychological implications of torture and put solutions to stop it.

10- The setting of fixed and well-defined restrictions, standards and instructions to monitor the performance of police officers, especially investigation officers. These standards shall be separated from the extent to which they reach perpetrators of crimes they investigate. The reason behind this is that the linking between finding  the perpetrators and keeping one’s position as a police officer sometimes derives the latter group to encroach upon citizen’s freedom.

11- Organizing training and educational sessions for police members, especially those in the criminal investigation departments, on the treatment of detainees in police stations. They must be trained to respect human dignity and the basic rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Egyptian Constitution, the law and international human rights treaties ratified by Egypt. These sessions would complement the human rights course already introduced in the police academy curriculum and all other police schools.

12- The authorities should recognize and cooperate with human rights organizations by conducting prompt investigations into their appeals to the Ministry of Interior and the Public Prosecution. Also, they must provide these organizations with information on the cases and the results of their investigations, and enable the representatives of these organizations to visit prisons and other places of detention to monitor human rights conditions.

13-The necessity of keeping, in the detention places and in a central archive , formal lists of all the detainees. These lists shall be updated and the courts , the competent authorities , the families of the detainees and their lawyers shall be allowed to see these lists.

14-To guarantee the ability to contact he outside world and to protect the detainees from the abuses of their human rights such as torture and disappearance, the detainee shall have the right not to detained except in the formally recognized place of detention. This place shall be near the area of residence of the detainee if possible.

15- The public prosecution shall carry on periodical inspection on the police stations and detention places to know the legal conditions of the detainees.

16- The issuance of a legislation which held the head of the police station responsible for the illegal detention.

17- The abolishing of the emergency law to put an end to the authorities’ abuses of the right to freedom and personal safety of the citizens.

18- Investigating the complaints and the reports on the illegal detention in a addition to issue disciplinary penalties by the ministry of interiors against those who commit the crime of illegal detention.

19- Carrying on criminal procedures against the defendants who commit the crime of illegal detention.

20- Allowing the victims of illegal detention to file cases directly before the courts.

 Also, the Committee of Human Rights referred in its formal comment issued on 27 July 1982 to “ In order to implement article 7 of the international Covenant on civil and political rights and the convention on torture, and other cruel , inhuman and degrading treatment, the governments shall not consider these practices as crimes but also they shall take preventive steps to eliminate these practices.

List No. 1 of the detainee names and the places