Reports
Cairo: 29 March 2003

 Introduction           Part one             Part two           Part three

In Defense of the Right for Peaceful Demonstration

A Report by the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights

On Police Transgressions on the Right to Demonstrate

Against the War

First: Police Brutality Against Demonstrators

According to information received by EOHR by victims whose testimony is referenced in this report, police force used against demonstrators exceeded even liberal bounds.  In Tahrir square, police used cudgels, hoses, tear gas and police dogs.  They also broke into the lawyers' syndicate and assaulted everyone inside the building, some of whom they later arrested.  Testimonies also indicate that some of the detained were beaten, cursed at and threatened. They were put in different places, one of which was the Central Security Camp in Darrassa.  Another was the Department of Cairo Security, two more were police stations at Kasr El Nil and Bulaq El Dakrour.  Injured demonstrators were transferred to hospitals at El Hussein El Gamey, Ahmed Maher, Umm El Masreyeen, Bulaq El Dakrour, and El Kasr El Einy.

 Second: Unconstitutional Detention of Accused

Lawyers at EOHR on 22/3/2003 followed up on prosecutor investigations of 58 detained demonstrators in Gamaleyya, Azbakeyya, and Kasr El Nil.  They were mostly students, lawyers, journalists and employees; three were juveniles, five were women.   Prosecutors detained 43 for 15 days and 12 for 4 days pending investigation.  EOHR highlights that Law number 10 of 1914, the law upon which these accusations was based, unconstitutionally bans the right to peacefully gather.  In addition to the law itself being unconstitutional, there were constitutional violations throughout the investigation process with respect to Members of Parliament Hamdein Sebahy and Mohamed Farid Hasanein.  EOHR discovered that authorities violated Article 99 of the Egyptian Constitution with respect to their investigations.  The article says in relevant part:

“Unless caught red-handed, it is not allowed to take up any criminal measures against members of the People's Assembly unless there was permission from the People's Assembly…"

 Concerning investigations of 31 accused persons, 2 of whom were juveniles (Mohamed Hegazy and Sayed Masoud), prosecutors ordered their detention for 15 days pending investigation.  They were charged with the following:

                 v            Intending to damage public property and prevent government authorities from accomplishing their duties;

                 v            Participating in arson of government property (a fire engine);

                 v            Participating in damaging 2 government motorcycles and a public transportation bus;

                 v            Participating in an assembly consisting of more than 5 persons;

                 v            Spreading provocative propaganda whose aim is to disturb public security and interest

At the Gamaleyya prosecutor’s office there were 14 persons accused, all of whom were detained for 15 days pending investigation.  They were charged with the following:

                 v            Participating in an assembly consisting of greater than 5 persons with the intent of disturbing;

                 v            Participating, along with others, in spreading agitating material;

                 v            Attacking a police officer on duty

 At the El Azbakeryya prosecutor’s office there were 13 persons accused, among whom was a girl named Maryam Bakry, all of whom were detained for 4 days pending investigation.  They were charged with the following:

                 v            Participating in an assembly consisting of more than 5 persons with the intent of disturbing the public peace and committing acts of aggression against both people and property;

                 v            Participating, along with others, in spreading propaganda aimed at disturbing the public order and interrupting public transport

                 v            Attacking police officers on duty

 The accused were assaulted before being presented to different prosecutors.  Subsequently state security forces Members of the People's Assembly Hamdein Sebahy and Mohamed Farid Hassanein, in addition to a number of other people.   Hamdein Sebahy was presented before state security prosecutors; Mohamed Farid Hassanein was put in a hospital because of the bruises he sustained as a result of being beaten so severely.  Prosecutors ordered the detention of the accused for 15 days pending investigation and ordered 4 more to be provisionally detained.   

Hamdein Sebahy was charged with the following:

                 v            Illegally managing a group in an assembly to prevent authorities from attending to their duties and disturbing public security;

                 v            Participating with others in an assembly meant to damage public and private properties, attack foreign agencies in Egypt and threaten authorities with violence;

                 v            Participating with others in using violence as a means of coercion against public employees and servants such as officers;

                 v            Participating with others in intentionally damaging public property, including car number 73737, a Cairo governate car, and motorcycle number 52162 of Cairo Traffic;

                 v            Participating with others in damaging glass transported to the Nile Hilton Hotel;

                 v            Calling on those gathered to attack the American Embassy in Egypt

 Mr. Sebahy was arrested on 23 March in front of his house at 4:15 p.m.  EOHR discovered that the officers who kidnapped him were under cover and took him in a private car, all of which aroused much suspicion.  He was severely beaten during demonstrations that week and challenged the Minister of Interior during a parliamentary session to investigate police exceeds during and after demonstrations.  EOHR also found out Mr. Sebahy refused to be investigated.

We also received information that a number of people were detained for hours.  One of these people was Dr. Sherine Aboul Naga, a professor at Cairo University.  She was arrested and left blindfolded for hours at the State Security Bureau of Investigation.  A number of journalists and others were beaten and arrested.  Among them were journalists Karem Yehia and Karme Mahmoud (who is also a board member of the journalists' syndicate). A number of women were also arrested, among them Norhan Tharwat (who was pregnant), Marwa Farouk and Shaymaa' Samir; they were released at dawn the subsequent day. 

Additionally, police broke into the homes of demonstrators they had not gotten earlier and threatened their families.  One family who was threatened was that of  engineer Kamal Khalil, an activist against the American-led war on Iraq.  His family was threatened with arrest in lieu of him, as he was not there at the time. 

 Third: Poor Conditions

First and foremost, EOHR wishes to highlight that the facilities of the places in which detainees were placed lacked even the most fundamental accommodations.  Conditions there were at best humiliating and at worst harmful.  The same is true for the central security camps; they are not constructed for detention.  Since they are considered to be military areas, detainees are not allowed to receive visits, nor can they contact their lawyers.  Even more, police prevent them from getting their food and medicine.  Those needed to be examined by doctors are neglected.