The UN Human Rights Committee have confirmed that the Swedish authorities were responsible for violations of the human rights of Mohammed El Zari in connection with his and Ahmed Agiza’s summary expulsion from Sweden in December 2001. Following their forcible return to Egypt, Mohammed El Zari and Ahmed Agiza alleged that they were tortured while in custody. Diplomatic assurances’ inherent flaws have prompted Amnesty International and others to oppose their use in principle and to denounce them as practices that circumvent the absolute prohibition on torture and ill-treatment generally, and the prohibition of refoulement, in particular.
