Amnesty International Report 1999 - Egypt

EGYPT

Twelve prisoners of conscience sentenced in previous years remained held. 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 detainees continued to be systematic; at least two people died reportedly as a result of torture. Prison conditions amounted to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. At least 73 people were sentenced to death and at least 48 people were executed. Armed opposition groups deliberately killed at least nine civilians.

Clashes between the security forces and armed Islamist groups were much less frequent than in previous years, resulting in a sharp reduction in the number of people killed by both sides and less frequent mass arrests by the security forces.

A state of emergency declared in 1981 (see previous Amnesty International Reports) remained in force.

In May the UN Committee against Torture requested from Egypt a "timely submission of the country's third periodic report" and called for a report on how the recommendations made by the Committee in May 1996 had been put into effect (see Amnesty International Reports 1997 and 1998).

A draft law to replace Law 32 of 1964 regulating non-governmental organizations was still being finalized at the end of the year.

Five prisoners of conscience, each serving a five-year prison term, remained in Mazra‘at Tora Prison at the end of the year. They were among 53 prisoners of conscience tried and sentenced for membership of the banned Muslim Brothers organization in 1995 by the Supreme Military Court in Cairo (see Amnesty International Reports 1996 to 1998). The rest were released during the year after completing their sentences. Seven prisoners of conscience sentenced to three years' imprisonment for membership of the Muslim Brothers by the Supreme Military Court in August 1996 (see Amnesty International Report 1997) also continued to be held in Mazra‘at Tora Prison.

In December Hafez Abu Sa'ada, Secretary General of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR), was arrested and detained for six days before being released on bail in connection with investigations concerning publications and funding of the EOHR.

Possible prisoners of conscience were among scores of people detained during the year. In February ‘Abd al-Rahman Lutfi, a farmer and secretary of the opposition Labour Party in Mallawi, Upper Egypt, was arrested, together with lawyer ‘Ala' al-Din Higazi. They were initially held in a police station in Mallawi. ‘Ala' al-Din Higazi was released a week later, but ‘Abd al-Rahman Lutfi was transferred to al-Wadi al-Gadid Prison in the desert in the southwest of Egypt. He remained held without charge or trial until 11 May, when he was released after staging a hunger strike to protest against his detention. In March, 29 members of a sect (who believed Egypt would suffer massive floods but that they would be rescued because of their beliefs) were arrested in a flat in Cairo. Seven women were released the same day, but the other members, including the leader Baha' al-Din Ahmad Hussain al-‘Aqqad, remained held without charge or trial until their release in May. More than 100 alleged members of the Muslim Brothers were arrested in separate incidents and many were detained for several months. At the end of the year at least 42 were still held in detention.

Although thousands of administrative detainees were released during the year, thousands of suspected members or sympathizers of banned Islamist groups, including possible prisoners of conscience, were still held without charge or trial under emergency legislation following their arrest in previous years. Among them were dozens of lawyers (see Amnesty International Reports 1997 and 1998). Others had been acquitted by military or (Emergency) Supreme State Security courts but remained in detention. ‘Abd al-Mun‘im Gamal al-Din ‘Abd al-Mun‘im, acquitted in 1993 (see previous Amnesty International Reports), remained held at the end of the year. In May he started a hunger strike to protest against his almost five-year illegal detention in al-Wadi al-Gadid Prison. He had already been suffering from poor health, including kidney problems and asthma, as a result of appalling prison conditions. When relatives visited him on 2 June he had to be carried by two prison guards to the visiting area, and could neither speak nor move. In July he ended his hunger strike and was transferred to Tora Penitentiary hospital. His health was said to have improved by the end of the year. Three lawyers, al-Shazli ‘Obeid al-Saghier, Radhwan al-Tuni and Mostafa al-Sayyid (see Amnesty International Report 1998), remained held at the end of the year despite their acquittal by the Supreme Military Court on 1 February. A fourth, Khalaf ‘Abd al-Ra'uf, was sentenced by the same court in the same case to five years' imprisonment.

At the beginning of the year several trials of alleged members of armed Islamist groups before military and (Emergency) Supreme State Security courts, which started in 1997 or previously, were completed. Proceedings before military courts continued to be grossly unfair (see previous Amnesty International Reports). For example, on 1 February the Supreme Military Court in Cairo gave its verdict in the case of 65 alleged members of al-Gama‘a al-Islamiya, Islamic Group. The trial had begun in November 1997 and defendants were charged with, among other things, membership of an illegal secret organization, plotting to kill government officials and a civilian judge, possession of weapons, and forging documents. Two men, Gamal Mohammad Mostafa Abu Rawwash, a medical doctor, and Taha ‘Abd al-Razeq ‘Abd al-Maqsud, a student, were sentenced to death and in November were executed. One man was sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labour and 30 other defendants received prison terms ranging from 15 years with hard labour to three years. Thirty-two were acquitted. Defendants were denied adequate time to prepare their defence and had no right of appeal to a higher court. Before trial, they were held in prolonged incommunicado detention and many were reportedly tortured to extract confessions.

Torture of political prisoners continued to be systematic in the headquarters of the ssi in Lazoghly Square in Cairo, ssi branches elsewhere in the country, police stations and sometimes in prisons. The government continued to fail to implement the 1996 recommendations of the UN Committee against Torture. The most common torture 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. In October the Alexandria Criminal Court decided to refer 13 police officers to the public prosecutor to investigate their involvement in torturing Muhammad Badr al-Din Isma'il in 1996.

In January Mohammad Hussein Mohammad Ibrahim Sallam, an Egyptian Muslim who had converted to Christianity a number of years previously, was arrested at Cairo Airport and detained for four days in the Giza branch of the ssi. He was allegedly punched and kicked while blindfolded, and threatened with rape. He was also threatened with being forced to divorce his wife, a United Kingdom national. He had been detained without trial from October 1990 to July 1991 and reportedly tortured because of his conversion to Christianity (see Amnesty International Reports 1991 and 1992).

In April Wahid Ahmad ‘Abdallah died reportedly as a result of torture in the ssi building in Belqas, north of Cairo. He was reportedly whipped and beaten for several hours, had his fingernails pulled out and was given electric shocks, including to his genitals, ears and tongue. His body was taken by members of the security forces to his family. However, the family took the body back to the ssi building and requested an official report of the incident. An investigation was said to have been carried out by the office of the local prosecutor in Belqas, but no findings were released by the end of the year. In August Samir Shahhata Ramadhan died in Nezbet al-Nefla police station reportedly after he was tortured for several hours.

In August and September security forces reportedly tortured at least 20 villagers, including children, in the course of a murder investigation in the predominantly Coptic Christian village of al-Kushh, Upper Egypt. Several of the victims filed a complaint with the authorities.

Thousands of detainees continued to be held in prisons where conditions amounted to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Political detainees and prisoners in several prisons were reportedly denied adequate medical care which led to several deaths. For example, in September Mahmoud Nour al-Din Sulayman, the head of the armed political group Thawrat Misr (Egypt's Revolution), who had been jailed since 1987 in connection with a series of anti-Israeli attacks, died in Tora Penitentiary hospital. He had been suffering for some years from kidney and liver problems and was reportedly denied specialized medical treatment outside the prison hospital. Scores of Islamists in administrative detention were reportedly suffering from various illnesses, including tuberculosis, skin diseases and paralysis, which were common because of lack of hygiene and medical care, overcrowding and poor quality food.

Several people who reportedly "disappeared" after arrest in previous years remained unaccounted for. No new information came to light regarding the "disappearance" of Nabil Mohammad ‘Ali Hassan al-Battugi and Sayyid ‘Ali Ibrahim (see Amnesty International Report 1998).

The death penalty was widely used during the year. At least 73 people were sentenced to death. Two of them were civilians sentenced in February by the Supreme Military Court after a grossly unfair trial and executed in November, and three others, including one in absentia, were sentenced by (Emergency) Supreme State Security Courts, which allow no appeal. At least 58 men and eight women were sentenced to death for murder by criminal courts. One man was sentenced to death for kidnapping and raping a woman and another for drug trafficking.

At least seven women and 41 men were executed. Four of them were executed by hanging in Cairo's Isti'naf Prison in February. They had been sentenced to death by the Supreme Military Court in Cairo in September 1997 in a case involving 97 alleged members of al-Gama‘a al- Islamiya (see Amnesty International Report 1998). One man who had been sentenced to death by the Supreme Military Court in October 1997 was executed in November. 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. To Amnesty International's knowledge all death sentences passed by military courts since 1992 have been confirmed by the Bureau and ratified by the President.

Armed political groups committed grave human rights abuses, including deliberate and arbitrary killings of civilians. At least nine unarmed civilians were killed during the year by armed men believed to be members of al-Gama‘a al-Islamiya. In August, for example, three Coptic Christian brothers were shot dead outside their house in Samalut in Minya Governorate by three gunmen who were believed to be members of al-Gama‘a al-Islamiya.

Dr Nasr Hamed Abu-Zeid remained under threat of death from al-Gihad, Holy Struggle (see previous Amnesty International Reports). He and his wife, Dr Ibtihal Younis, continued to live abroad fearing for their safety if they returned home.

Amnesty International appealed to the authorities to release immediately and unconditionally prisoners of conscience and criticized the long-term detention without charge or trial of political detainees. The organization called for political prisoners to be given fair trials and for an end to trials of civilians before military courts. It also called for the immediate implementation of safeguards to stop torture and ill-treatment of detainees and for executions to be halted.

In September Amnesty International published a report, Egypt: Human rights abuses by armed groups, which detailed abuses, including deliberate killings of civilians, committed in recent years by thetwo main armed political groups in the country, al-Gama‘a al-Islamiya and al-Gihad.