Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders Annual Report 2004 - Egypt

Continued harassment against the ECHR and its members⁴⁵

Refusal to register the ECHR rescinded

On 14 May 2003, the Egyptian Centre for Housing Rights (ECHR) submitted the required documents to register the association with the Ministry of Social Affairs, as stipulated by the Law No. 84 on associations, passed in 2002.

However, on 13 September 2003, the Ministry informed the ECHR that its request for registration had been refused under Article 11 of Law No. 84 which, inter alia, bans any activity "threatening national unity" or "promoting discrimination".

The ECHR lodged an appeal with the Ministry of Social Affairs to have the decision rescinded.

On 22 February 2004, the administrative court ruled that the Ministry's refusal to register the association was illegal and recommended that the State Council rescind the decision.

Although the ECHR was considered as legal as of end 2004, it still had not been given a registration number. Further, a National Security Intelligence (NSI) officer, Mr. Walled Al-Dessoki, reportedly declared on several occasions that he would firmly refuse to allocate a registration number to the Centre.

Moreover, Mr. Manal El Tibe, ECHR executive director, was targeted by numerous smear campaigns initiated by Mr. Al-Dessoki in the course of 2004.

Obstacles to ECHR activities

From 19 to 22 February 2004, the ECHR held a training course on housing rights in Port Said. Over these four days, the venue of the seminar was kept under close surveillance by NSI officers who disrupted the course on several occasions and followed participants on their field visits.

On 4 October 2004, the ECHR and the Housing and Land Rights Network held a joint seminar to celebrate the World Habitat Day. NSI officers were deployed around the ECHR headquarters throughout the entire event.

On 24 November 2004, the tents and equipment that the ECHR had supplied in May 2004 to give shelter to 18 homeless families in the region of Duweiqa, were seized by the authorities. On that same day, the mayor of Munsha-at-Nasser threatened to confiscate ECHR equipment and to take action against the association. Mr. Khaled Abd Al-Hameed, an ECHR delegate, subsequently received a telephone call from a police officer in Munsha-at-Nasser, who insulted and threatened him.

The tents and equipment were eventually returned to ECHR, albeit in poor condition.

Harassment targeting the Nadeem Centre⁴⁶

On 11 July 2004, the Nadeem Centre for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence, based in Cairo, was subjected to an "abusive" inspection. A committee of three persons came to the Center and presented an official document issued by the Private Medicine Department of the Health Affairs Office (Cairo Governorate). The document warranted an inventory of the medical equipment of the clinic and a report on its conformity with sanitary laws. However, instead of checking the equipment, the inspectors arbitrarily searched and photographed the office, as well as documents related to the patients that are legally protected by medical confidentiality, and confiscated some of the doctors' personal belongings. Moreover, these individuals refused to give a copy of the inspection report to the managers of the Centre.

On 19 July 2004, the Directorate of Health Affairs sent a letter informing the Nadeem Centre that it was in violation of law 51 adopted in 1981, regarding the regulation of medical establishments. The letter further stated, that inter alia: the Center was operating for objectives different from those for which it was registered; it lacked medical and first aid equipment; the association was no longer located at the address it had declared for registration; the medical director was not present at the time of the inspection while the committee noticed the presence of a previously unreported doctor. According to article 11 of law 51, the governor can order the administrative closure of an establishment that does not rectify these breaches within a maximum period of 30 days.

Faced with this threat, the Nadeem Centre decided to devote one part of the premises to health care, and to move out its human rights to another apartment, so as to comply with the committee's requirements. By end 2004, the Nadeem Centre was apparently no longer subjected to any threat of suspension.

Legal proceedings against Mr. Hafez Abu Sa'eda⁴⁷

Legal proceedings against Mr. Hafez Abu Sa'eda, secretary general of the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights (EOHR), were still pending as of end 2004. Mr. Abu Sa'eda is being pursued on the basis of Decree No. 4 of 1992 for having accepted, in 1998, an unauthorised subsidy from the British Embassy.

[Refworld note: This report as posted on the FIDH website (www.fidh.org) was in pdf format with country chapters run together by region. Footnote numbers have been retained here, so do not necessarily begin at 1.]

45. See Annual Report 2003.

46. See Urgent Appeal EGY 001/0704/OBS 061.

47. See Annual Report 2003.