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Regardless of the suppression which all Egyptians are under, by an autocracy which is a continuation of a failed revolution, allegedly by the people, for the people sponsored by the so-called "The Free Officers" in 1952 the inevitable will occur. This inevitable is a sure democracy. History teaches us so. However, in this corner of the world it may take a little longer. Time is on our side. We have been patient for generations and will continue to bide our time until deliverance is achieved. This ancient land has become a true fiefdom, but the trigger to alter all this may be as simple as what happened on July 23, 1952. Egyptians are patient but are not cowards. What we have to watch out for is the external influences in the region which do not bode us well. "The Lord God mighty in battle" will deliver us.
VOICES FOR A DEMOCRATIC EGYPT (VDE)
EGYPT HUMAN RIGHTS OVERVIEW 2007-2009
INTRODUCTION
Egypt's human rights record over the last two years has shown demonstrable regression on all fronts. A state of emergency has been in force since the assassination of President Anwar Sadat in 1981 that suspends basic constitutional protections, and was renewed in May 2008 despite presidential campaign promises to the contrary. Regressions on the legislative, judicial, and executive fronts have resulted in a quickly deteriorating status quo. The Egyptian government’s failure to abide by Egyptian laws as well as Egypt’s international obligations has resulted in numerous rebukes by UN agencies as well as a multitude of national governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The United States can regain its credibility in the Middle East by convincingly censuring Egypt’s deliberate efforts to ignore the desire of its citizens for democracy and human rights. Supporting measures that enshrine these values is consistent with US ideals and with the stated objectives of the new administration.
TORTURE
Dozens of torture cases were documented in 2008 and 2009, including several resulting in death. The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) has documented at least 40 cases of torture since 2008, at least 14 of which ended in death by police officers, more than five times as 2007. It is widely known that most torture cases go unreported and undetected and that torturers largely go unpunished except in a few highly publicized cases. It should be further noted that convictions of torture are not considered “crimes of moral turpitude” in Egypt, so often offending officers, even if convicted, are returned to their posts with authority over citizens after serving their sentences, if any. By and large, individual cases of torture at police stations continue to be reported with little to no response from the authorities in investigating incidents or holding the perpetrators accountable.
Table 1
Year Number of Torture Cases Number of Deaths as a Result of Torture
2007 40 3
2008- February 2009 46 17
Total since 2007 86 20
Documented incidents include:
• February 2009: Ahmed Abdel Fattah was tortured at a police station in the Cairo neighborhood of Ain Shams. The video of his torture was posted by Egyptian blogger Wa’el Abbas.
• January 2009:
o Abdallah El Sagheer, 40, died while being held in custody at a police station in Alexandria. El Sagheer was arrested for robbery and kept at the police station for 3 days without being presented to the prosecutor, which should by law happen within 24 hours of arrest. El Sagheer's family told news sources that Abdallah had no health problems at the time of his arrest, and later on other sources confirmed that Abdallah was tortured to death.
o An Alexandria woman was reportedly sexually assaulted by a security officer during a raid of her home, during which her husband was detained and items from her home were reportedly taken.
o Ibrahim El Assal accused a state security officer of killing his son, Reda El Assal, a driver at the Ministry of Interior.
• In October 2008, a 9 month pregnant woman, Mervat Abdel Salam, was reportedly kicked to death by security forces during a search of her home.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND THE MEDIA
This year also witnessed heightened legislative efforts for media control and restriction, as demonstrated by the passage in Feb. 2008 of a document by the Arab League—under the leadership of the Egyptian Minister of Media— “regulating television, radio, and satellite media.” This document is now paralleled by an Egyptian draft law to “regulate” visual, audio, and electronic media.
According to Amnesty International, in 2008:
the Arab league promulgated a charter under the leadership of Egypt calling on member states to prohibit satellite television broadcasts that "negatively affect social peace, national unity, public order, and public morals," or "defame leaders, or national and religious symbols" of Arab states. Egypt's state-controlled Nilesat satellite subsequently dropped three channels, including al-Hiwar, which broadcast programs featuring government critics and human rights abuse victims. In April plainclothes police shut down the Cairo News Company (CNC) after it supposedly supplied Al Jazeera with images of anti-government protests; in October a Cairo court fined CNC's owner US$27,000 on charges of owning and operating unlicensed equipment. In early February an appeals court upheld the conviction of Al Jazeera reporter Huwaida Taha for harming "the dignity of the country" with a documentary about torture in Egyptian police stations.
The government issued regulations in May requiring internet café users to provide detailed personal information in order to access the web. In April Cairo security officers arrested Esraa Abd al Fattah and others who used the social-networking website Facebook to call for strikes; and in May security officers in New Cairo stripped and beat Ahmed Maher Ibrahim for the same activity. In July security forces in Alexandria arrested Maher and 13 other members of the "6 April Youth" group and jailed them for two weeks without charge after they sang patriotic songs and refused to disperse when ordered.
• Censorship of several newspapers and magazines for their coverage of certain issues continue to occur, as does banning of books by religious institutions and the government.
• Jail sentences as well as fines continue to be meted out for independent journalists for coverage of issues viewed as defaming government officials.
JUDICIAL SYSTEM ABUSES
Laws effecting a state of emergency and suspending normal constitutional protections continue to undermine the judiciary notably through: (1) imposition of “administrative” detention orders which supersede normal court decisions; (2) trial of civilians in military courts; (3) so-called Hisba lawsuits brought by “private citizens” affiliated with the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) against dissidents, writers, artists, etc.; and (4) parallel court systems created through emergency legislation, including state security courts and emergency courts that do not afford due process.
An example of prosecutions of civilians in exceptional courts was the trial of individuals in December 2008 who had participated in a national strike in April 6 in the city of Al Mahalla. In December 2008, the state security emergency court convicted 22 defendants from the April 6 strike. Trial in this exceptional court involves denial of due process as well as the right to appeal, and has been decried by Egyptian and international human rights organizations.
Five newspaper Editors-in-Chief were prosecuted for insulting President Mubarak and / or affiliates of the NDP. Though an appeals court overturned jail sentences for four of the editors, they were nonetheless ordered to pay fines of LE 20,000 each. The original conviction was handed down in the aftermath of a July 2006 press law passed by Parliament criminalizing the insulting of public officials—a law journalists argue curtails freedom of expression.
In separate cases:
• Ibrahim Eissa of Al Dostour was sentenced to six months in prison for reporting on rumors about the president's health. He was acquitted following a pardon by President Mubarak himself in October. Although he was ultimately pardoned, Eissa’s experience is part of a stark pattern of prosecuting journalists who challenge the status quo in Egypt, constituting an unacceptable obstacle to press freedom.
• Saad Eddin Ibrahim, an Egyptian social scientist and political activist, was convicted “defaming Egypt’s national character.”
The year of 2008 also witnessed the issuance of politically motivated media gag orders, such as in the trial of NDP affiliate Hisham Talaat Mostafa for murder, as well as the prosecution of independent journalists for violation of that order while neglecting prosecution of similar violations from journalists working for the state-owned media.
Several bloggers were arrested and have since disappeared, including Sinai activist Mos’ad Abu Fagr, a number of bloggers affiliated with the April 6 movement, several Islamists, and a Christian blogger, Hani Nazir.
• Kareem Amer continues to be incarcerated for charges of “insulting religion” and the president. The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention recently released a report concluding that Amer is being detained arbitrarily by the Egyptian authorities for his online critique and for exercising his right to freedom of expression.
• German Egyptian film-maker and blogger Philip Rizk was kidnapped and subjected to harsh interrogation methods. He was eventually released after an international campaign by foreign governments, the media, and human rights organizations was launched on his behalf.
• Blogger Mohamed Adel was incarcerated at Tora prison for over 3 months starting in December 2008 until March 2009. While in Egyptian custody, he was subjected to torture including: electrical shock, suspension, mental abuse, and solitary confinement. The government's actions violate Egypt’s international human rights obligations, and these actions led Adel to engage in a hunger strike while in detention.
• Blogger Diaa El Din Gad was abducted and his whereabouts withheld from his family and lawyers for three weeks. According to the Arab Network for Human Rights, this was done with the knowledge of the Prosecutor’s office as well as the National Council on Human Rights.
• According to Human Rights Watch, hundreds of citizens remain detained for peaceful activities related to Gaza activism.
GOVERNMENT REPRESSION AND FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION
Repression of community organizers, NGOs, and individuals exercising their internationally-protected rights to freedom of association continued. Several NGOs were dissolved in 2007 and 2008 on arbitrary grounds and without due process, including for “endangering national security” and receipt of foreign funding. Security officials blocked several meetings held by human rights organizations and acted to block international activities of NGOs.
Egypt has also acted to block substantive efforts at the enforcement of human rights through participation in international bodies such as the UN Human Rights Council. Egypt has opposed intervention in Darfur, and more recently opposed the issuance of an international arrest warrant against Sudanese president Omar Bashir.
A bill amending the current NGO law is presently being proposed by the Ministry of Social Solidarity. It is likely to contain even greater constraints on the abilities of Egyptian NGOs to obtain foreign funding, making it very difficult for Egyptian rights organizations to continue operation. This bill is expected to be approved by the parliament before the end of the current parliamentary session.
CONSTRAINTS ON POLITICAL PARTICIPATION
There were allegations of rigging of local elections in April 2008, in which opposition parties met with extreme difficulty in fielding candidates and hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood candidates were arrested and prevented from participating.
FREEDOM OF BELIEF AND MINORITY RIGHTS
• The climate for Egypt’s largest religious minority, Coptic Christians, remained difficult. In February 2008, the Supreme Administrative Court ruled in favor of twelve defendants seeking to return to Christianity after previously converting to Islam, but ruled that their national ID cards should indicate that they “used to be Muslim,” which ensures continued hardship and discrimination against the converts.
• The government continued its harsh campaign of repression against the Qur’anists, an offshoot of Sunni Islam, including through the ongoing harassment of Qur’anist blogger Reda Abdelrahman.
• In January 2008 the Supreme Administrative Court ruled that Baha’is could have official documents that do not indicate any religion, but that decision has not been complied with until now. Baha’is are not allowed to build houses of worship or practice their faith publicly.
• The government continues to stall on the passage of a national uniform law on construction of houses of worship that would remedy the hardship Copts face in building or repairing their churches. Copts continue to suffer from discrimination in public employment and are underrepresented in high leadership positions.
• In December 2008, a convert to Christianity, Martha Samuel, was detained and arrested at the airport as she and her family attempted to travel to Russia to escape five years of persecution and harassment by authorities since her conversion. While in police custody, Martha was reportedly tortured and sexually assaulted. Though Martha has been released on bail, she is awaiting trial for “falsifying documents” because she had documents issued in her Christian name before her conversion was not officially recognized.
• There’s government unwillingness in addressing Coptic issues, as the Coptic matter continues to be dealt with through band-aid ad-hoc security measures that do not address the underlying issues, exemplified by this year’s incident in the Abu Fana monastery, where what began as a land dispute between a monastery and surrounding inhabitants escalated into the kidnap and torture of several monks.
• Religious sectarianism continues to grow unaddressed by the government through the media or educational curricula. Coptic history continues to be conspicuously absent from educational textbooks.
• Government response to sectarian incidents remains sluggish and inadequate, guided by security concerns and not by much-needed political accommodation and reform aimed at achieving full citizenship rights for Copts and religious minorities.
MIGRANT AND REFUGEE RIGHTS
Egyptian border guards killed at least twenty-two migrants trying to cross into Israel in 2008 and thirty-four migrants in 2007, in violation of Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). As of this writing, Egypt has not allowed officials of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to visit a group of 91 Eritreans, Sudanese, and Somalis who Israel returned to Egypt in August 2008. Egypt denied UNHCR access to a prior group of forty-eight who Israel returned in August 2007, and reportedly repatriated between five and twenty of the refugees to Sudan.
In April 2008 Egypt forcibly returned forty-nine Sudanese men and boys, including eleven refugees and asylum seekers, to southern Sudan, where authorities detained them for four months. In June Egypt forcibly returned at least 740 Eritreans, including women and children, without allowing UNHCR access to them, in violation of the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and the ICCPR, which prohibit Egypt from forcibly returning refugees to countries where they have a well-founded fear of persecution or face a real risk of torture, or to third countries that might not respect that prohibition.
NOTES AND SOURCES