Amnesty International Report 1997 - Egypt
- Document source:
-
Date:
1 January 1997
Seven prisoners of conscience were sentenced to three years' imprisonment and 53 others, tried by the Supreme Military Court in 1995, continued to serve prison sentences. Thousands of suspected members or sympathizers of banned Islamist groups, including possible prisoners of conscience, were held without charge or trial; others were serving sentences imposed after grossly unfair trials before military courts. Torture and ill-treatment of political detainees continued to be systematic. At least 45 people were sentenced to death, including four in absentia, and at least 14 people, including eight sentenced in previous years, were executed. Armed opposition groups committed grave human rights abuses, including deliberate and arbitrary killings of civilians. A state of emergency introduced in 1981 (see previous Amnesty International Reports) remained in force. In May, the UN Committee against Torture issued a report which concluded that "torture is systematically practised by the Security Forces in Egypt, in particular by State Security Intelligence ... ". The Committee noted with concern that "no investigation has ever been made and no legal action been brought against members of the State Security Intelligence since the entry into force of the Convention [UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment] for Egypt in 1987". It urged the Egyptian Government to "make particular efforts to prevent its security forces from acting as a State within a State, for they seem to escape control by superior authorities". Violent clashes continued between armed opposition groups and the security forces, especially in Upper Egypt, resulting in dozens of casualties on both sides. Thirteen prominent members of the Muslim Brothers were arrested in April. They included former members of parliament, university lecturers and engineers. In May, President Hosni Mubarak issued a special decree referring their case to a military court. The defendants were charged with membership of an illegal organization which "aims to overthrow the regime and to suspend the Constitution". However, the prosecution failed to provide substantive evidence to demonstrate that the defendants had committed any recognizably criminal offence. In June, the Supreme Military Court sentenced seven of the defendants to three years' imprisonment. They were prisoners of conscience. Among those sentenced were Mohammad Mahdi Akef, a 68-year-old former member of parliament; Dr Mahmoud Omar al-Arini, a 72-year-old lecturer in the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of al-Azhar; and Dr Abd al-Hamid al-Ghazali, a lecturer in the Faculty of Economics at Cairo University. One defendant, Abd al-Adhim Abd al-Magid al-Maghribi, received a one-year suspended prison sentence and five others were acquitted. The 53 prisoners of conscience sentenced to up to five years' imprisonment by the Supreme Military Court in November 1995 (see Amnesty International Report 1996) continued to be held in Mazraat Tora Prison. One of them, Abd al-Rahman Abd al-Fattah Abdallah Mohammad, President of the Teachers' Syndicate in Fayyum, died in October reportedly as a result of a blood clot for which he allegedly did not receive anti-coagulant medication or other medical treatment while in prison. He was transferred to Qasr al-Aini Hospital in Cairo, but reportedly died on arrival. No investigation was reported to have been carried out into his death. Hundreds of people were arrested on political or religious grounds during the year. In September, 10 alleged members of the Muslim Brothers were arrested in Bani Sueif and accused of distributing leaflets critical of government policies and inciting the population to demonstrate. They were all released in November. In October, 57 alleged members of a Shia group were arrested and accused of planning to influence public opinion by propagating the Shia doctrine and having links with Iran. They were still detained at the end of the year. Also in October, Mohammad Wagdi Mohammad Durra was arrested at his home in Tanta and allegedly tortured. According to reports, he was arrested in connection with his conversion from Islam to Christianity and the charges against him reportedly included "propagating ideas" and "belittling religions". A prisoner of conscience, he was released in December. Thousands of suspected members or sympathizers of banned Islamist groups, including possible prisoners of conscience, arrested in previous years, continued to be held in administrative detention, without charge or trial, under emergency legislation. For example, Gihan Ibrahim Abd al-Hamid, who was arrested in November 1994, continued to be administratively detained, despite numerous release orders issued by the courts. She was allegedly interrogated in connection with her contacts with the wife of a suspected Islamist activist said to have been killed by the police in a shoot-out in November 1994. Gihan Ibrahim Abd al-Hamid, whose husband was serving a 15-year prison term, was held in al-Qanater al-Khairiya Prison (women's section) at the end of the year. At least 49 lawyers remained in detention at the end of the year. Some were held without charge or trial; others had been tried and acquitted by military and (Emergency) Supreme State Security Courts, but continued to be detained. Muawwadh Mohammad Youssef Gawda, who was arrested in May 1991, continued to be detained without charge or trial despite at least 21 release orders from the courts. He had reportedly been tortured on a number of occasions at the headquarters of the State Security Investigations Department (SSI). At the end of the year he continued to be held in Istiqbal Tora Prison. Torture of political prisoners continued to be systematic, particularly in the SSI headquarters in Cairo, SSI branches elsewhere in the country and in police stations. The most common methods reported were: electric shocks, beatings, suspension by the wrists or ankles, burning with cigarettes, and various forms of psychological torture, including death threats and threats of rape or sexual abuse of the detainee or female relatives. Lawyers, the Bar Association and local human rights groups lodged hundreds of complaints of torture with the Public Prosecutor's Office. No information was made available regarding any investigations into the allegations. Amal Farouq Mohammad al-Maas was arrested in July and held at an SSI building in al-Marsa, Cairo, for 10 days. She was allegedly subjected to electric shocks on various parts of the body; slashed with a knife on her legs, back and arms; and beaten. She was believed to have been arrested because she had earlier lodged a complaint against two SSI officers whom she alleged had tortured her in April 1993 when she was first arrested in connection with her husband's activities. In August, Ahmad Mohammad Abd al-Adhim Higazi died in the headquarters of the SSI in Cairo, reportedly as a result of torture. He and at least 50 others, including Sayyid Abbas Sayyid, Taha Mansour, Saeed Taghour, Hisham Mohammad Abdu and Abd al-Hamid Mahmoud Qutb Khalil, had been arrested in July and reportedly accused of membership of an illegal armed group, Talai al-Fatah (Vanguards of the Conquest), and preparing to overthrow the regime. They were all held in the SSI headquarters in Cairo and allegedly subjected to torture including beatings, electric shocks, suspension in contorted positions and burning with cigarettes. The death penalty continued to be used extensively. At least 45 people were sentenced to death, including four in absentia; seven of them were civilians sentenced by a military court after an unfair trial and 10 others were sentenced by (Emergency) Supreme State Security Courts, which allow no appeal. At least 27 people were sentenced to death by criminal courts for murder and at least one for drug-trafficking. At least 14 people, including eight people sentenced in previous years, were executed. In June, six people were executed. They had been sentenced to death by the Supreme Military Court in Cairo in January in the case known as al-Aidoun min al-Sudan (Returnees from Sudan). They were reportedly members of al-Gamaa al-Islamiya (Islamic Group) and were charged with, among other things, plotting to overthrow the regime, threatening peace and national unity through the use of violence and illegally importing weapons and ammunition into the country. Death sentences passed by military courts are subject only to review by the Military Appeals' Bureau, a body composed of military judges which is not a court, and ratification by the President. All death sentences were confirmed by the Bureau and the President. Armed opposition groups continued to commit gross human rights abuses, including deliberate and arbitrary killings of civilians. Bomb and firearm attacks were carried out by banned Islamist groups, particularly al-Gamaa al-Islamiya and al-Gihad (Holy Struggle). At least 70 unarmed civilians were killed by armed men believed to be members of al-Gamaa al-Islamiya. In February, eight civilians, including six Coptic Christians, were killed by two armed men, believed to be members of al-Gamaa al-Islamiya, in the village of al-Uthmaniya in Asyut governorate. Eighteen Greek tourists, including 14 women, were killed outside a hotel in Cairo by four armed men in April. Al-Gamaa al-Islamiya claimed responsibility for the killings. A 68-year-old retired guard, Mahmoud Abd al-Hakim Abd al-Nasser, and his two sons Muri, a teacher, and Redha, a farmer were shot dead by armed men believed to be members of al-Gamaa al-Islamiya in August in the village of Nawai near Mallawi in Minya governorate. Dr Nasr Hamed Abu-Zeid remained under threat of death from al-Gihad (see Amnesty International Report 1996). In August, the Court of Cassation in Cairo upheld the June 1995 Court of Appeal's ruling that he had insulted the Islamic faith through his writings and that he and his wife should divorce. In September, the Giza Court of Emergency Matters ordered "a suspension of the execution" of the ruling made by the Court of Appeal in June 1995. An Islamist lawyer appealed against the new ruling, but in December a court upheld the September ruling. Dr Nasr Hamed Abu-Zeid and his wife, Dr Ibtihal Younis, had left Egypt at the end of 1995. Amnesty International repeatedly appealed to the authorities to release all prisoners of conscience and called for the immediate implementation of safeguards to stop torture and ill-treatment of detainees, and for urgent, thorough and impartial investigations into all allegations of torture. The organization criticized the long-term detention without charge or trial of political detainees and called for an end to trials of civilians before military courts and for all political prisoners to be given fair trials. It also called for all death sentences to be commuted and for the abolition of the death penalty. In July, Amnesty International published a report, Egypt: Indefinite detention and systematic torture the forgotten victims, which focused on the government's use of administrative detention, systematic torture and the death penalty as well as on killings and other human rights abuses by armed opposition groups. In response to the report, the authorities denied that there were any prisoners of conscience held in Egyptian prisons and stated that those held in long-term administrative detention, including those mentioned in Amnesty International's report, were a threat to society and would resume their "terrorist" activities if released. The state of emergency was, according to the authorities, being used only in connection with crimes relating to "terrorism" and drugs. While the response noted the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment of prisoners under Egyptian law, it failed to address the systematic use of torture in practice. The authorities failed to respond on the specific cases raised by Amnesty International, and gave no indication that investigations were being carried out into past violations, or that any steps had been taken to prevent human rights violations. Amnesty International strongly condemned deliberate and arbitrary killings of civilians by armed opposition groups, calling on them to put an end to such killings, and to stop issuing death threats.
Disclaimer: © Copyright Amnesty International
This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.