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Al-Ahram Weekly 10 - 16 June 1999 Issue No. 433 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 10 - 16 June 1999 Issue No. 433
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Features Books Living Travel Sports Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters A sullied record
By Salama Ahmed Salama
The Egyptian authorities reacted promptly to refute US criticism of the law on non-governmental organisations, which the State Department spokesman described as a violation of human rights. Whether the law in question is a step forward or backward is a controversy of concern to Egyptians alone. It is for us to judge whether the law fulfills the needs of our society.
The US has assumed the prerogative of graciously rewarding or punishing states on the basis of their human rights record. What the administration should be looking at instead is the human rights of Arab Americans living in the US. The persecution they face serve to confirm on a daily basis the fact that they are considered second- or third-class citizens in the US.
Apart from the case of the young Arab American who was fired from his job at the US State Department recently under pressure by the Jewish lobby, there is the small matter of the violation of the fundamental rights of an American citizen of Palestinian descent called Mazen Al-Naggar. Al-Naggar, who obtained American nationality some 20 years ago, is an engineer and a university professor. Two years ago, he was investigated on charges of terrorism, and detained under the so called "secret evidence" act, which, though unconstitutional, was passed by Congress in the context of the Law to Combat Terrorism in 1996, allowing for the detention, even without evidence, of persons suspected of being terrorists.
The law in question has been hardly ever been applied -- except to Arab Americans. The case of Mazen Al-Naggar was the topic of at least ten articles published in the St Petersburg Times, one of the 10 most important regional newspapers in the US. The articles all state that his human rights were violated by the failure to bring him to trial before a court. Al-Naggar, the newspaper said, had been charged simply because his father-in-law is a professor at the University of South Florida and is politically active. As a public figure, he cannot be casually detained by the US authorities. Al-Naggar's arrest was a means of exerting pressure.
I received many messages from Arab Americans urging me to publicise Al-Naggar's case in the Arab press, as a means of bringing an end to his incarceration. He is being kept not in a federal prison but in a special facility where illegal immigrants are held. In other words, he is being treated like individuals deprived of any legal rights -- such as the right to obtain food which is not prohibited by religious precepts (for instance, kosher food in the case of Jews). Visitors can see him only through the bars of his cell, and no one will say how long he will be detained. The newspaper that published Al-Naggar's story tried to find out what he is being charged with, but congressmen they approached said only that he had contacts with a research group active in the defence of Palestinian rights. The newspaper compares the treatment of Palestinians today with the treatment of Japanese citizens in US concentration camps during World War II, conscientious objectors during the Vietnam War, and anyone accused of communism during the Cold War and under McCarthyism.
The practice of arresting and detaining persons on mere suspicion, and violating their right to seek the protection of the law or the constitution, is usually associated with Third World countries. The US routinely exercises the same abusive practices it constantly criticises in its annual report on the state of human rights in the world, but it has outdone other countries in its cruelty toward American citizens of Arab origin. In most cases, the US acts in response to reports presented by Jewish organisations attempting to suppress the activities of pro-Palestinian groups. The Saudi owner of Al-Shifaa pharmaceuticals company in Khartoum, destroyed by US missiles under the pretext that the factory was producing chemical weapons, recently won his case against the US authorities, but will he receive compensation?
The US uses human rights slogans for political purposes, as an excuse to interfere in the domestic affairs of other countries. Human rights advocacy by the US should never be taken seriously. It would be more useful for Arab governments to respond to the demands of its citizens and find ways to persuade them of its policies, rather than to seek the approval of the US administration.
