Web pages about "Egypt"

Video: Abu Omar, victim of rendition and secret detention

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 12:57:10 +0100

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US and Italian agents snatched Abu Omar from the streets of Milan in February 2003

He was rendered by US agents, via Germany, to Egypt, where he was held for nearly four years, including 14 months in secret detention.

Egypt continues to deport Eritrean asylum-seekers

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 17:06:56 +0100

Reports indicate that the Egyptian authorities have deported some 700 Eritrean asylum-seekers to Massawa in Eritrea, on special daily Egypt Air flights from Aswan International airport since 11 June. Up to 900 others are at risk of deportation. Hundreds are apparently detained at Central Security Forces camp in Shallal, south of Aswan. The camp has served as a gathering point for asylum-seekers before they are taken to Aswan airport. On 12 June, a security official confirmed that 200 Eritreans had been "sent back home" the previous day.

On 15 June, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Egypt announced that the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Egypt would be granted access to the Eritreans to assess their asylum claims. However, that same night, it is reported that about 90 Eritrean asylum-seekers were deported.

Asylum-seekers returned to Eritrea are at risk of torture and other ill-treatment, particularly those who have fled from compulsory military service. Most are likely to be arbitrarily detained incommunicado in inhumane conditions for weeks, sometimes years.

Others continue to face deportation. According to information available to Amnesty International, about 270 Eritreans have been transported to Shallal camp from police stations in the Red Sea cities of Hurghada, Halayeb and Shalateen, and 35 from Aswan police station. All police stations near Aswan as well as Idfu police station, north of Aswan, are now empty of Eritrean asylum-seekers; most of them were deported but some are still detained in Shallal camp. Among those who had been detained in Idfu and are now believed to have been deported are about 25 Eritreans who had been awaiting a court ruling on charges of illegal entry to Egypt, scheduled for 21 June.

According to accounts to Amnesty International, when the asylum seekers learned they were to be deported back to Eritrea, they implored the security forces not to do so and some even threatened to kill themselves. They were then searched to make sure they did not carry any object they could use to harm themselves. The asylum-seekers didn't physically resist being put on the airplane but continued to cry and beg.

The 200 asylum-seekers deported on Wednesday 11 June, had been detained in a Central security forces camp in Shallal in Aswan city. They were told they would be transported to the UNHCR office in Cairo.

Their lawyers tried to reach them the same evening to offer medication and food, but could not get to them. The Eritreans were in fact taken to Aswan International airport and put on a special EgyptAir flight to Eritrea.

Since the end of February, flows of Eritrean asylum-seekers have reached Egypt either via its southern border with Sudan or by sea, south of the city of Hurghada. Others are recognized as refugees by the UNHCR in Sudan, and are fleeing Sudan to avoid being forcibly returned to Eritrea by the Sudanese authorities.

Hundreds of the Eritrean asylum-seekers in Aswan were charged with illegal entry in Egypt and were sentenced to a suspended one-month prison term. They were, however, kept in administrative detention by orders of the Ministry of Interior, as granted under the Emergency law in Egypt.

The UNHCR issued guidelines to all governments opposing the return to Eritrea of rejected Eritrean asylum-seekers on the grounds of the record of serious human rights violations in Eritrea. These guidelines are still in force.

Two asylum-seekers returned to Eritrea by the German authorities on 14 May are believed to have been arrested on arrival and have not been seen since. Another asylum-seeker returned from the UK in November 2007 was detained in inhumane conditions and ill-treated before being released.

Thousands are detained in Eritrea, in secret and indefinitely, without charge or trial. They have been arrested for suspected opposition to the government, practicing their religious beliefs as members of banned evangelical or other churches, evading military conscription or trying to flee the country.

Egypt: Sentences against Muslim Brothers a perversion of justice

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 17:40:52 +0100

“The prison sentences handed down by an Egyptian military court against 25 members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood are a perversion of justice,” Amnesty International said today.

“This trial appeared to be politically motivated from the start, when President Mubarak sent the defendants for trial before a military court despite an earlier civilian court ruling that some of them should be released,” said Amnesty International. “Today’s sentences leave little doubt that the Egyptian authorities are determined to undermine what has become the main opposition group in the country.”

The military court in Haikstip, northern Cairo, handed down prison sentences of up to 10 years against 25 defendants, including seven who are not in custody and who were tried in absentia. Fifteen other defendants were acquitted and are yet to be released. Khairat al-Shatir, the third highest ranking Muslim Brotherhood leader, and Hassan Malek, received seven years’ imprisonment. Sixteen others received prison sentences ranging from three to five years. Five of those who were tried in absentia received 10 year prison terms, while the other two received a sentence of five years each.

The defendants were all tried on terrorism-related and money laundering charges, which they denied. Specifically, they were alleged to have financed a banned organization and provided students with weapons and military training. Following amendment of the military justice code in 2007, they can appeal to the Supreme Court of Military Appeals, but this can only examine procedural matters, not the substance of the case.

Today’s verdict, which had been postponed twice, came amid reports that some 200 Muslim Brotherhood supporters, including relatives of the defendants, were detained by security forces when they sought to enter the military compound in which the court was sitting. Security forces prevented human rights observers and the media from the court and allowed only the head of the defendants' legal team but no other defence lawyers to be present.

Thousands of security forces were reportedly deployed along the way to the court compounds in Haikstip as well as on the main routes leading to Cairo centre, in an attempt to prevent any demonstrations against the military court’s verdict.

The highly-publicised trial of the 40 men – all of whom are civilians – opened on 26 April 2007, after President Mubarak ordered in February 2007 that they should be tried before a military court. Earlier, a civilian court threw out charges against 17 of them.

During the trial, international observers sent by Amnesty International and other organisations were prevented from attending.

“Trying civilians before military courts, whose judges are serving members of the military, flouts international standards of fair trial and is inherently unjust, regardless of whether the defendants are allowed a right of appeal or not.” said Amnesty International, reiterating previous calls by the organization. “All of those convicted should be promptly and retried by a civilian court that conforms to international fair trial standards or else released.”

Perversion of justice - 25 face jail in Egypt

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 18:09:51 +0100

An Egyptian military court sentenced 25 members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood to jail on Tuesday - a verdict described by Amnesty International as a "perversion of justice".

“This trial appeared to be politically motivated from the start, when President Mubarak sent the defendants for trial before a military court despite an earlier civilian court ruling that some of them should be released,” said Amnesty International.

“Today’s sentences leave little doubt that the Egyptian authorities are determined to undermine what has become the main opposition group in the country.”

The military court in Haikstip, northern Cairo, handed down prison sentences of up to 10 years against 25 defendants, including seven who are not in custody and who were tried in absentia. Fifteen other defendants were acquitted but are yet to be released.

Khairat al-Shatir, the third highest ranking Muslim Brotherhood leader, and Hassan Malek, received seven years’ imprisonment. Sixteen others received prison sentences ranging from three to five years. Five of those who were tried in absentia received 10 year prison terms, while the other two each received five year sentences.

The defendants were all tried on terrorism-related and money laundering charges, which they denied. Specifically, they were alleged to have financed a banned organization and provided students with weapons and military training. They can appeal to the Supreme Court of Military Appeals, but this can only examine procedural matters, not the substance of the case.

The verdict, which had been postponed twice, came amid reports that some 200 Muslim Brotherhood supporters, including relatives of the defendants, were detained by security forces when they sought to enter the military compound in which the court was located.

Security forces prevented human rights observers and the media from entering the court and prohibited the presence of defence lawyers, other than the head of the defendants' legal team.

Thousands of security forces were reported to have been deployed on the route to the court compounds in Haikstip, as well as on the main routes leading to Cairo centre, in an attempt to prevent any demonstrations against the military court’s verdict.

The highly-publicised trial of the 40 men – all of whom are civilians – opened on 26 April 2007, after President Mubarak ordered in February 2007 that they should be tried before a military court. Earlier, a civilian court threw out charges against 17 of them.

During the trial, international observers sent by Amnesty International and other organisations were prevented from attending.

“Trying civilians before military courts, whose judges are serving members of the military, flouts international standards of fair trial and is inherently unjust, regardless of whether the defendants are allowed a right of appeal or not.” said Amnesty International. “All of those convicted should be promptly retried by a civilian court that conforms to international fair trial standards, or else released.”

Egypt: 117 NGOs Slam HIV-Based Arrests and Trials - Doctors Helping Police Denounced for Breaching Medical Ethics, Human Rights

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 11:32:27 +0100

As five more men face trial in Cairo on April 9 in a widening and dangerous police crackdown on people living with HIV/AIDS, 117 organizations worldwide working in the fields of health and human rights condemned the crackdown and the participation of medical personnel.

In a letter to the Health Ministry and the Egyptian Doctors’ Syndicate (http://hrw.org/english/docs/2008/04/07/egypt18439.htm), the groups, led by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, said that doctors who helped interrogate men jailed on suspicion of being HIV-positive violated their own medical ethics, and their conduct led to a breach of trust in a privileged relationship.

“Doctors must put patients first, not join a witch-hunt driven by prejudice,” said Joe Amon, director of the HIV/AIDS program at Human Rights Watch. “Now more than 100 human rights groups are reminding Egyptian doctors of the oath they took to respect patients’ privacy, autonomy, and consent. This is one of the oldest traditions of medical responsibility, as well as an obligation under human rights law.”

The groups signing the letter span 41 countries on six continents. They include international and national organizations working on issues of health and human rights, and defending the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS. The countries represented are: Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Belize, Brazil, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cote d’Ivoire, France, Grenada, Guyana, India, Iran, Italy, Jamaica, Kenya, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Morocco, Nigeria, the Philippines, Portugal, Russia, the Slovak Republic, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Venezuela.

Cairo police have jailed 12 men since October 2007 in a spreading hunt for people suspected of being HIV-positive. The arrests began when one man, stopped on the street during an altercation, told officers he was HIV positive. Police arrested him and the man with him, beat and abused them, and began picking up others whose names or contact information they found through interrogating the first detainees.

All the men were charged with the “habitual practice of debauchery,” a term which in Egyptian law includes consensual sexual acts between men.

The Cairo-based Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights found a document from the Ministry of Health and Population titled “Questionnaire for Patients with HIV/AIDS” in one of the men’s case files. It includes “yes” or “no” questions that doctors from the ministry apparently use to interrogate people in the crackdown about whether they had sexual relations “with the other sex” or “with the same sex,” or “with one person” or “with more than one person.” Prosecutors included the men’s answers that they had relations “with the same sex” as evidence of their guilt.

Doctors from the Ministry of Health also subjected all the detainees to forcible HIV tests without their consent. Doctors from Egypt’s Forensic Medical Authority performed forcible and abusive anal examinations on the men to “prove” they had had sex with other men. Several of the men have told lawyers that police and guards beat them in detention. A prosecutor informed one of them that he had tested positive for HIV by saying: “People like you should be burnt alive. You do not deserve to live.”

The prisoners who tested HIV-positive were held in hospitals, chained to their beds, for months. After a domestic and international outcry, the Ministry of Health finally ordered the men unchained on February 25.

“It is unacceptable for doctors to perform forcible HIV tests, or to examine people to ‘prove’ offenses that should never be criminalized,” said Malcolm Smart, director of the Middle East and North Africa program of Amnesty International. “Doctors who engage in or enable human rights abuses are violating their most elemental responsibilities.”

On January 13, 2008, a Cairo court convicted four of the men of “debauchery” charges and sentenced them to a year in prison. On February 2, their sentences were upheld on appeal (http://hrw.org/english/docs/2008/02/15/egypt18064.htm). On March 4, 2008, Cairo prosecutors handed down indictments against five more men, who will face charges of “habitual practice of debauchery” at their April 9 trial (http://hrw.org/english/docs/2008/03/11/egypt18257.htm). One of them faces an additional charge of facilitating the practice of debauchery for the other men. The charges were dropped for three other men.

Before issuing the latest indictment, the lead prosecutor told a lawyer for the defendants that the men should not be allowed to “roam the streets freely” because the government considered them “a danger to public health.”

Physicians in Egypt take an oath based upon the Geneva Declaration of the World Medical Association. Among other things, it says, “The health of my patients will be my first consideration; ... I will not use my medical knowledge to violate human rights and civil liberties, even under threat.”

The International Dual Loyalty Working Group, an international initiative which addresses the medical ethics of physicians, has established guidelines that state that: “The health professional should not perform medical duties or engage in medical interventions for security purposes.”

In the letter, the 117 groups reminded the Health Ministry that forcible testing for HIV without consent, and discrimination or arbitrary arrests or ill-treatment based on HIV status, violate international human rights protections. Egypt’s law used against consensual same-sex sexual conduct also violates protections for privacy and against discrimination in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

To read the letter from 117 health and human rights organizations to Egypt's Health Ministry and the Egyptian Doctors' Syndicate, please visit:
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2008/04/07/egypt18439.htm

For more information, please contact:
In New York, Joe Amon, Human Rights Watch (English): +1-212-216-1286; or +1-609-475-2365 (mobile)
In Cairo, Gasser Abdel-Razek, Human Rights Watch (Arabic, English): +20-10-502-9999 (mobile)
In London, Scott Long, Human Rights Watch (English): +1-646-641-5655 (mobile)
In London, Nicole Choueiry, Amnesty International (Arabic, English, French): +44-78-31-16-40-170 (mobile)

Two more migrants killed at Egypt/Israel border

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 15:54:38 +0000

Two men believed to be from Côte d'Ivoire were shot dead by Egyptian security forces while trying to cross into Israel on Thursday. These latest killings bring the number of African migrants killed this year to 10.

On 10 March and 18 March, a Sudanese man and Eritrean woman were killed in similar circumstances. Six others were killed earlier in February and January, including two women from Eritrea.

Egyptian newspaper editor sentenced to six months

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 14:46:13 +0000

The editor of an Egyptian daily newspaper was sentenced to six months in prison on Wednesday for writing about the health of the President. Ibrahim Eissa, editor of the Al-Dustour newspaper, who wrote an article suggesting that the health of 79-year-old President Hosni Mubarak was deteriorating.

The authorities contended that the article damaged the economy by causing foreign investors to withdraw investments worth some US$350million.

Speaking just after the sentence was handed down, Ibrahim Eissa said that the verdict is a part of the daily judicial harassment of journalists. He said that it is aimed at intimidating journalists into not exposing the leadership's policies and to prevent them from criticising President Mubarak publicly.

"They want to turn him into an untouchable, protected from any criticism or questioning. This verdict is also a continuation of other verdicts against me and other editors. With these verdicts they are mixing the judicial system with politics, trotting out provisions of Egyptian law that have been abandoned for ages and never used," said Ibrahim Eissa.

"The president's promises of 2004 [to abolish prison terms for publishing offences] are clearly a cosmetic cover-up. I have been given a sentence of six months, and other verdicts are expected Saturday, Monday, and the following Saturday. There is no journalist who has been exposed to so many verdicts in one week – perhaps in the world!"

Ibrahim Eissa was charged under Articles 171 and 188 of the Penal Code for publishing in 2007 information considered by the authorities to be damaging to the public interest and Egypt’s national stability. He can appeal the court's decision.

Amnesty International has called on the Egyptian authorities to drop the charges against him.

"This prosecution forms part of a wider pattern of the Egyptian authorities using criminal defamation and other charges to chill media expression and reporting on issues considered by the authorities as red lines, but which are, in reality, issues of clear public interest," said Amnesty International. "It underlines the need for the government to amend the controversial press law and all other provisions in the Penal Code that criminalise legitimate reporting.”

The press law adopted by the National Assembly in July 2006 added to existing restrictions on freedom of expression. Journalists and others continue to be at risk of imprisonment if they commit publishing offences, such as insulting public officials.

When the new law was introduced, independent and opposition newspapers withheld publication for a day in protest and hundreds of media workers protested outside the parliament building.

"We hope that the Court of Appeals, when it considers the case, will overturn this verdict and uphold the right to media freedom,” said Amnesty International. “The authorities should cease using criminal defamation charges to harass journalists and prevent their reporting on matters of legitimate public interest.”

Ibrahim Eissa will also stand trial on 31 March in a separate case on charges of spreading false information about President Mubarak’s health.

He was one of four newspaper editors who were sentenced in 2007 under Article 188 of the Egyptian Penal Code, which stipulates that anyone who “malevolently publishes false news, statements or rumours that is likely to disturb public order", should be imprisoned for up to one year prison and pay a fine of 20,000 Egyptian Pounds. All four have remained at liberty pending the outcome of their appeal, the next session of which is scheduled for 5 April.

Egypt: Newspaper editor’s prosecution part of a “pattern of harassment” of Egyptian media

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 11:06:40 +0000

Ibrahim Eissa was charged under Articles 171 and 188 of the Penal Code for publishing in 2007 information considered by the authorities to be damaging to the public interest and Egypt’s national stability. This was a report suggesting that the health of 79-year-old President Mubarak was deteriorating. The authorities contended that the article caused foreign investors to withdraw investments worth some 350 million US dollars damaging the economy. Eissa can appeal yesterday's court decision.

"This prosecution forms part of a wider pattern of the Egyptian authorities using criminal defamation and other charges to chill media expression and reporting on issues considered by the authorities as red lines, but which are, in reality, issues of clear public interest," said Amnesty International. "It underlines the need for the government to amend the controversial press law and all other provisions in the Penal Code that criminalise legitimate reporting.”

The press law adopted by the National Assembly in July 2006 added to existing restrictions on freedom of expression and journalists and others continue to be at risk of imprisonment if they commit publishing offences, such as insulting public officials. When the new law was introduced, independent and opposition newspapers withheld publication for a day in protest and hundreds of media workers protested outside the parliament building.

"We hope that the Court of Appeals, when it considers the case, will overturn this verdict and uphold the right to media freedom,” said Amnesty International. “The authorities should cease using criminal defamation charges to harass journalists and prevent their reporting on matters of legitimate public interest.”

On 31 March, Ibrahim Eissa will also stand trial in a separate case on charges of spreading false information about President Mubarak’s health. In 2007, he was one of four newspaper editors who were sentenced under Article 188 of the Egyptian Penal Code, which stipulates that anyone who “malevolently publishes false news, statements or rumours that is likely to disturb public order", should be imprisoned for up to one year prison and pay a fine of 20,000 Egyptian Pounds. All four have remained at liberty pending the outcome of their appeal, the next session of which is scheduled for 5 April.

Another migrant shot dead at Egypt/Israel border

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 11:42:11 +0000

Egyptian security forces shot dead a woman trying to cross into Israel on Saturday. The woman who is believed to be an Eritrean in her 30s is the second woman to be killed this month. She was among a group of 10 Eritrean migrants attempting to cross the border into Israel.

A total of six African migrants have now been killed trying to cross the border so far this year, but no investigations into these killings are known to have been opened by the Egyptian authorities.

This latest killing comes after a Sudanese man was killed on 19 February. Security officials said 50-year-old Ermeniry Khasheef was shot in the back after he ignored orders to stop as he attempted to cross barbed wire near the border town of Rafah.

Migrant shot dead trying to cross Egypt/Israel border

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 17:55:13 +0000

Egyptian security forces shot dead a Sudanese man trying to cross into Israel on Tuesday. A total of five African migrants have now been killed crossing the border so far this year.

Security officials said 50-year-old Ermeniry Khasheef was shot in the back after he ignored orders to stop as he attempted to cross barbed wire near the border town of Rafah.

An Eritrean woman, Mervat Mer Hatover, was shot dead three days earlier, after she ignored orders to stop as she was attempting to jump over the barbed wire in the El Kuntilla border region. According to security officials, Mervat Mer Hatover and her two daughters, aged eight and ten, were among a group of Africans who paid smugglers to help them cross into Israel. All were arrested.

The military prosecutor is reported to have ordered an autopsy on Mervat Mer Hatover, but no proper investigation is known to have taken place.

"We call on the Egyptian authorities to protect the lives of migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers, intercepted at the border with Israel, and to launch immediately a thorough, independent, and impartial investigation into the killings and make its findings public," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Deputy Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International.

Two migrants from Ivory Cost were shot and killed on 30 January trying to cross the border south of Rafah. According to the Egyptian security forces, a 22-year-old man and an 18-year-old woman bled to death before an ambulance could reach them. Six Eritreans and two Ethiopians were also arrested.

Another man from Ivory Cost bled to death on 19 January after he was shot in the thigh at the border with Israel. A Sudanese and a Guinean were arrested.

Thousands of migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers, mostly from Sudan and Eritrea or other parts of sub-Saharan Africa, try to cross from Egypt to Israel each year. Their numbers have been increasing since 2007.

In July 2007 alone, over 230 mostly Sudanese migrants were arrested trying to cross into Israel without official permission. According to the UNHCR, some two to three million Sudanese nationals live in Egypt; most of them are migrants. However, they also include thousands of refugees who have fled persecution in Sudan.

Israel has put pressure on Egypt to reduce the flow of people crossing the border into its territory without authorization.