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 The
organisations that are signatory to this plea express
their worries and deep sorrow for the fate of the human
rights in Egypt post the introduction of a bundle of
legal and constitutional changes put forward by the
ruling National Democratic Party (NDP). These changes
were passed in a referendum in which only 8% of the
electoral votes made it to the ballot box- according to
confirmation given by all monitors including judges- in
a stark contradiction to the regime claims of
unprecedented turn out, the latest of a string of ballot
rigging and results’ falsification of elections and
referenda over the past decades in an atmosphere that is
far from being fair and transparent.
The institutions and organisations,
signatory to this plea, refer to the unanimous agreement
of the findings of all local and international
establishments that are concerned with the human rights
in Egypt and who monitored the Egyptian Government
continual shunning of the legal and constitutional
principles that have been the basis of common
legislations: that clearly; signify the paramount
importance of the human aspect for all individuals
without any discrimination; limit the role of the state
to the running of the affairs of the society and to
looking after the interests of its citizens in a way
where its governance does not breach their
internationally recognised basic rights, to observing
the laws and the constitution by facilitating the means
by which public can participate in the various fields of
national patriotic services including politics and to
guaranteeing the freedom of expression as an intrinsic
right for every individual. These principles that are
embodied in articles 41, 44 and 45 of the constitutions,
in addition to four other international conventions
where Egypt is a signatory to and consequently obliged
to abide by, were completely eclipsed and rendered
obsolete by the new articles 37, 56, 76 and 179 which
clearly states that the president has the right to refer
any of the terrorist crime cases to any judiciary he
chooses.
At the end of this conference the
undersigned organisations would like to point out the
following:
1-they feel worried due to the
acceptance of Egypt to the membership of the United
Nations Council for Human Rights which merely came about
because of political accords and mutual exchange of
votes amongst the member states and not in accordance
with its human rights records especially in the light of
the latest violations and breaches of the legal and
constitutional rights committed by its government over
the years. This would undoubtedly open the door for
casting doubts over the credibility of this
international council and consequently tarnishing its
image.
2-The continuation of the phenomena
of falsification of the well of the electorates by
ballot rigging, forging and counterfeiting of the
election and referendum results which nullifies the
legitimacy of the balloted legal and constitutional
clauses especially those denigrating the respect and
protection of human rights that can never be cancelled
or even touched even with a majority voting.
3-the ongoing phenomena of mounting
pressure exerted over the judiciary, the continual
interference with its independence from the executive
apparatus and the indecisiveness in stopping and taking
actions against those amongst the police forces who
inflicted bodily harm on some of the judges due to their
independent stance which is not compatible with the
government political guidelines. This is in addition to
the increasing use of referral of civilians to military
tribunals.
4-The continual use of the
Martial-emergency- law since 1981 and its recent
substitution by new legislations would only consolidate
the current system of human right abuses and breaches
against civil liberties as well as rendering a false
legitimacy over the use of this law.
5- The continual retention of the
draconian punishment measures that aim to diminish the
freedom of speech and expression especially in the
publishing cases by which; the broadcaster Hoyaida Tahah
was sentenced to six month imprisonment for preparing a
TV documentary programme about torture in Egypt; by
which the blogger Abdolkareem Nabil Soliman was
sentenced to four years in prison for contempt of
religions and for insulting the president; and by which
the blogger Abdol-Menim Mahmoud is still in prison
because he gave testimony against the unlawful arrests
of political opponents and the illegal procedures that
are systematically taken against them by the regimes.
6-The ever increasing restrictions
and financial strangulation of the non-governmental
organisations (NGOs) especially those working in the
field of human rights via; the continual interference of
the government into its formations by vetoing some of
the people nominated for its board of directors and
trustees; blocking any donations to these NGOs; and the
refusal of granting permissions to establish new ones.
7-The continuation of the
restrictions over the formation of new political parties
by putting the decision in the hand of a committee
affiliated to the ruling party and of which membership
is predominantly made up of representatives of the
executive apparatus that belong to the party.
8-The persistent determination of the
regime on the referral of a group of the top ranks of
the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) to a military tribunal based
on a ruling by the State Council Administrative Judicial
Court which concurred with another ruling by the same
court but by a different circle to rebut the former
circle’s as it breached the trial proceedings and hence
quashing its referral order and rendering it void. The
rebuttal of the former circle was due to conflict of
interests as its judicial members could not be acting
independently while at the same time they are appointed
to consultative posts at the various departments of the
executive apparatus. This referral is paradoxically
taking place despite of four judicial rulings issued by
relevant civilian courts for the immediate release of
the MB leaders.
Therefore the participants have
decided to work in close liaison with the Egyptian NGOs,
the Arab and the international organisations in order to
shed more light on the status of the human rights and
civil liberties in Egypt and to uncover the dire
consequences of its current deterioration. This is to be
achieved via; extensive research activities and media
coverage and via the formation of an Egyptian-Arabian
delegation to follow up the Egyptian file and to present
it before the High Commission for Human Rights, the
European Commission and the various regional and
international HR organisations.
London: 26th
May 2006
Arab
Commission
for
Human Rights (ACHR),
Rencontre
Culturel Euro Arabe
Voix Libre
Human
Rights Defenders in the Arab World,
Al
Karama
for
Human Rights,
Justice
International
Observatoire français
des droits
de l’Homme
Comité
citoyen
d’action
civique
Damascus
Center for Theoretical Studies and Civil Rights
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