Annual Report of The National Council for Human Rights

Chapter Five
Human Rights Practices in Egypt For 2004

The present report shares with other numerous reports, published on the national arena by government and NGO's, their terms of reference, which have been founded on constitutional principles, the international conventions for human rights, the values derived from religions and the legal liabilities emanating from Egypt's ratification of the Universal Declaration for Human Rights and other international conventions.

Yet, it outshines such reports by two distinctive features emanating from NCHR's law and the nature of its mission as outlined under its Articles of Association. NCHR is not an instrument for interpreting the performance of the executive authority towards the existing policies and defending them, which is carried out by the competent official authorities.

Neither is it a protesting expression of errors or abuses which occurred in one field or another, similar to the publications issued by a number of NGO's that do not possess authorities similar to those provided by the Articles of Association to NCHR.

Rather, it incorporates critical reading with both its positive and negative aspects, as well as analyzing events and defining responsibilities. It does not stop at proposing policies, but strives - as well- to affect them.

The present report covers its subject - matter in the field of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights for the period commencing with NHRC's first meeting held by the end of February 2004 till the end of February 2005.

The Right to Life:

The year 2004 witnessed a number of regretful abuses of the right to life, of which a number occurred to individuals while in the authorities' custody. Other abuses were committed by an extremist group which blew up three locations in south Sinai on 8 October 2004.
That regretful terrorist act was the first of its kind to devastate the country since the Luxor massacre by end of 1997 that left five Egyptians and approximately 30 foreigners mostly Israelis, dead.
Furthermore, Israeli soldiers committed manslaughter against three Egyptian security men, namely "Hani Ali Sobhi Al Naggar" (21 years), "Mohammed Abdul Fatah" (22 years and) "Aamer Abu Baker Aamer" (22 years). The manslaughter occurred when an Israeli tanker opened its heavy fires which crossed the borders towards the Egyptian city of Rafah. The incident was condemned by the Egyptian public opinion and denounced by the government.

Abuses of the right to life which occurred under the liability of the public authorities included two prominent types:

The first and most perilous type was the death of a number of citizens due to suspected torture while they were being detained and interrogated. The year witnessed several incidents of this type.
By the beginning of January 2004, Mohammed Hassan Ismail (a peddler - 55 years) died during detention at Al Azbakiya Police Station in Cairo.
On 7 January, Mohammed El Sayed Nigm (30 years- handicapped) died a few hours after being released in a state of coma from the State Security Investigations Services (SSIS) HQ in the city of Banha, Qaliwbiya, where he was detained for eight days without a judicial warrant or official charges.
On 13 March, Khaled Abdulnabbi Hassan (19 years) died in detention at Fayed Police Station in Ismailiya Governorate.
On 20 March, El Sayed Moustafa Mousa died during detention at Ausim Police Station in Giza Governorate.
On 13 April, Mohammed Moursi Saleh died following a quarrel between him and a policeman, during which the latter fired at him in a public road ⁽¹⁾.

On 11 June 2004, the naked body of Nasser Mohammed Hussien was found in an extremely swollen state amidst the farms, after less than 36 hours of his arrest in the early morning of 9 June by the police from his residence in Medoum Village, Al Wasta Markaz in Beni Seuf Governorate. His family submitted a report to the Public Prosecutor in which it accused the police forces of assaulting him which caused his death and then attempted to dispose of his corpse to evade the liability ⁽²⁾.

On 12 September 2004, Amr Atrees Hassan (31 years) died in Imbaba Police Station in Giza Governorate, after ten days of detention on account of theft. His family informed the Public Prosecutor that he died of torture (report No.12008 of year 2004/Imbaba) ⁽³⁾.
On 23 September, Abdultawab Yousef Salah Eddin , died while in custody at Nasr City Police 1st Station in Cairo, after detention on account of a theft case. The initial report of Zenhum Health Office confirmed the existence of clotted wounds shortly prior to his death ⁽⁴⁾.
On 20 October, Ali Mohammed Al Masli died while in custody at Beyala Detention Center in Kafr El Sheikh Governorate, two days after detaining him. His family said his death occurred as a result of torture. They submitted a report to the Minister of Interior and the Public Prosecutor. The Public Prosecutor decided to investigate the case and appointed a forensic doctor to conduct an autopsy on the body. The report was recorded under No.1903 for year 2004 - administrative investigation- Beyala Center ⁽⁵⁾.

On 20 December 2004, Saddam Hussien Hafez Ali (17 years), a juvenile, died in custody at Al Warraq Police Station in Giza, where he had been detained on account of investigations in a theft case since 13 December along with other adult detainees. The police station officers said he sustained skull hemorrhage when a number of detainees fell on him while he was asleep and that rescue attempts after transferring him to a public hospital were futile. However, distrustful of this statement, the victim's family informed the Human Rights Association for Assistance of Prisoners (HRAAP) that it had observed several wounds on his face and feet, as well as hemorrhage in the skull and ears ⁽⁶⁾.

The second type of the right to life abuses, which occurred under the responsibility of the public authorities, included the death of detainees as a result of gross negligence or lack of health care.

The most prominent cases followed up by the NCHR in this respect was the death case of engineer Akram Zuhairi (40 years) on 9 June 2004, after less than one month of his detention in a campaign launched for detaining Muslim Brotherhood (Al Ikhwan Al Muslimeen) members. Despite the deterioration of his health condition since his detention, he was not provided with the necessary medical care. Further, he sustained head hemorrhage after he collided with the beam of the security extradition vehicle which was returning him, along with other detainees to prison, after they were presented to the prosecutor. The guards' response to his colleagues' calls for rescue was late. He was transferred by the prison management to the university hospital, but it was too late as he died a few hours later. ⁽⁷⁾.

Following senior level communications between the People's Assembly and the Ministry of Interior, the People's Assembly's National Security Committee, mandated a delegation to visit Tora Prison to investigate the cause of the death and examine the conditions of detainees as well as ensure the implementation of the prison regulations. After the visit, committee members said the reason for engineer Zuhairi's death was neglecting his treatment rather than torture. ⁽⁸⁾.

The public opinion's concern was also raised by the death of three young men and injury of 17 others by asphyxiation as a result of packing them in a security extradition vehicle in August 2004. The victims were among 80 youths who were arrested by the Libyan authorities on allegation of entering Libya and trying to travel to Italy illegally.

After handing them over to the Egyptian authorities, they were transferred to Cairo inside two security extradition vehicles packed with double their capacity, without adequate ventilation, under high temperature and humidity. Guarding officers and soldiers did not pay any attention to the prisoners' repeated calls for rescue and complaints of asphyxiation.

After opening the doors of both vehicles within the periphery of Khalifa Police Station after 12 hours, the pathetic situation was revealed. The cases were transferred to an adjacent hospital in extremely fatigued condition. While first aid was administered, each of Ahmad Ibrahim, Ashraf Abdulghafar Attiya and Mohammed Ibrahim Al Bendari died of blood circulation failure ⁽⁹⁾.

On 26 December, Ashraf Zaki Mahran died in custody at Shobra El Khima 2nd police Station in Qaliwbya governorate, as a result of wounds sustained during a squabble. Although he received first aid treatment, he remained detained for ten days without adequate medical care despite the Public Prosecution's decision to release him on 16 December. Following his death, the officers said they had continued detaining him because of his evasion of military service. ⁽¹⁰⁾.

Though the Public Prosecution investigates these cases and refers the criminals to the criminal courts, yet this process consumes a long time. Among the a/m death cases caused by alleged torture at the detention centres which occurred in 2004, a decision was taken on only one case, i.e. Mohammed Hussien Hassan Ismail who was killed while severely beaten at Azbakiya Police Station on 3 January 2004. On 11 October 2004 Cairo Criminal Court sentenced Ashraf Fathi El Ganzory, the police officer found guilty of this felony, to five years of prison ⁽¹¹⁾.

On the other hand, the courts continued looking into cases pending from previous years. The Cassation Court decided on 25 January 2004 to uphold the verdict passed for the imprisonment of the policemen accused of torturing prisoner Ahmad Mohammed Eissa to death inside Wadi El Natron Prison on 10 February 2000 ⁽¹²⁾.
On 4 April 2004 the Cassation Court upheld the verdict passed by Cairo Criminal Court against Nasr City investigation assistant on charge of torturing two citizens in January 2002, which led to the death of one of them ⁽¹³⁾.
On 17/1/2005 Cairo Criminal Court delivered a verdict for the imprisonment of Bab El Shaa'riya police station police officer for five years after re-trying him on charge of torturing Mohammed El Hussien Imam to death by lashing and connecting an electrical source to his body ⁽¹⁴⁾.

Meanwhile, on 22 April 2004 Giza Criminal Court exonerated all supsects accused of torturing Qenawi Saleem Al Sagheer to death at Imbaba Police Station on 7 January 2000 ⁽¹⁵⁾.

Courts are examining these as well as several other death cases of torture which allegedly took place over the past years, including the trial of two police officers and four detainees before Alexandria Criminal Court on 31 March in the case of Ahmad Khalid Ibrahim who was tortured to death at El Gomrak Police Station on October 2002 ⁽¹⁶⁾.
It is worth noting that the NCHR has submitted on 1 August 2004 a proposal for amending the definition of the "torture offence" according to article 126 of the Penal Code, in order to expand its scope and reinforce the punishment for this crime, in the manner stated in detail under the last part of this report.

The NCHR appreciates the decisions and measures adopted by the Ministry of Interior to prosecute a number of individuals who committed such acts, as well as the Public Prosecution's interrogation with a number of them, which ended in some instances by referring them to criminal trial and imposing punishment upon them.
However, the NCHR expresses its concern at the continuation of a large number of such practices.
It also expresses its fears that such practices signify the ill treatment received by suspects and detainees. NCHR reiterates the necessity of taking more stringent measures and actions, as well as constant guidance and training in an attempt to deter those who believe that their job in the security field bestows upon them an immunity against the constitutional rights of citizens.
In light of the foregoing, the NCHR is interested in reconsidering some provisions of the Penal Code which implicate torture, in an attempt to increase their efficiency and expand the scope of their implementation.