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Al-Ahram Weekly 22 - 28 June 2000 Issue No. 487 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 22 - 28 June 2000 Issue No. 487
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Focus Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Censure and denial
By Amira Howeidy"The report is redundant, basically repeating previous arguments already made in past reports," was how Hani Khallaf, head of the Human Rights Desk at the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, viewed the recently- issued annual world report of the London-based Amnesty International (AI). "The material published in the section on Egypt neither included my response, which I conveyed to AI, nor presented the complete picture," Khallaf told Al-Ahram Weekly.
AI's 1999 report on human rights conditions in Egypt said that thousands of suspected members or sympathisers of banned Islamist groups, including possible prisoners of conscience, were held without being charged or put on trial; others were serving sentences imposed after "grossly unfair trials before military courts."
However, it monitored some positive developments along the government-Islamist militant front, declaring that clashes between security forces and armed 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."
It referred, albeit with reservations, to the fact that the state of emergency declared in 1981 remained in force. The state of emergency gives security forces the legal power to conduct arrests and detain prisoners without putting them on trial. Said the report, "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."
Suspected members of militant groups or sympathisers "had been acquitted by military or [Emergency] Supreme State Security courts but remained in detention." The report cited the case of Abdel-Moneim Gamaleddin Abdel-Moneim, who was acquitted in 1993 but remained in detention at the end of 1999. In protest, he started a hunger strike in the Al-Wadi Al-Gadid (New Valley) Prison. Three lawyers were still detained at the end of the year despite their acquittal by the Supreme Military court on 1 February.
AI described the proceedings before military courts as "grossly unfair."
Moreover, the report said torture of political prisoners continued to be systematic at the headquarters of the State Security Investigation (SSI) and also in its branches elsewhere in the country. The government, it said, "continued to fail to implement the 196 recommendations of the UN Committee against Torture." It mentioned, however, that in October, the Alexandria Criminal Court decided to refer 13 police officers to the Public Prosecutor to investigate their involvement in torturing Mohamed Badreddin Ismail in 1996.
The incidents at the village of Al-Kosheh, which won worldwide attention, was summarily dealt with in only one paragraph. "Security forces," the report said, "reportedly tortured at least 20 villagers, including children, in the course of a murder investigation in the predominantly Coptic Christian village of Al-Kosheh, Upper Egypt. Several of the victims filed a complaint with the authorities."
For his part, the Foreign Ministery's Khallaf charged that AI "monitoring process remains incomplete, and this has always been the methodology of Amnesty."
"Incidents are recounted, completely taken out of context, without any mention of official explanations or responses to any given incident," he argued.
Khallaf took issue with the fact that government efforts to improve human rights conditions were overlooked by the watchdog group. "For example, in one torture case, we took action immediately and filed a complaint with the Prosecutor General. Two days later, he initiated a serious investigation of the violations committed by security officers. These officers were referred to a secret, emergency trial. We informed all our embassies of these measures, so as to respond to claims [of laxity]," he explained.
And in the case of Al-Kosheh, Khallaf expressed disappointment. "Everything that was said to thoroughly explain in detail and provide the full picture of what really happened and why was entirely ignored by the report," he said. "I don't believe there's room for accusations against the government, given the prompt action it took to deal with the incident and its repercussions."
Although constantly criticised by officials, AI's annual report is usually scrutinised by both local human rights groups and government authorities. However, officials rarely comment on the monitored violations. But this is about to change, according to Khallaf, whose brainchild, the National Human Rights Institute, is about to see the light. "We believe that with its establishment, watchdogs, such as AI or Human Rights Watch or any other group, will have a better chance of communicating with the authorities," he said.
Related stories:
Government denies rights violations
Relates sites:
Amnesty International
www.amnesty.org
