Newsletter Issue 41

Vol.41

27/04/2015

The first human rights newsletter dedicated to Egyptian affairs

ICFR CONDEMNS THE MASS DEATH SENTENCES IN EGYPT'S MILITARY COURTS

ICFR condemns in the strongest terms, the verdicts handed down by Cairo Criminal Court on Saturday 11th April 2015, which saw the Muslim Brotherhood leader Dr Mohamed Badie, and 13 other senior members of the MB, handed death sentences.

Life sentences were also given to 36 others, including the 27 year old US citizen Mohamed Soltan, who has been on hunger strike for over 400 days, despite his deteriorating medical condition, in protest over his unfair detention.

His father, Dr Salah Soltan, was among those receiving a death sentence.

The defendants have not received a fair trial nor have they been presented with any evidence against them.

The death sentences of the 14 defendants must now be confirmed by the Grand Mufti of Al-Azhar. While not binding, the Mufti’s ruling is normally no more than a formality.

ICFR calls upon all human rights organisations, and all nations who support democracy and human rights, to intervene in this heinous mockery of justice and put an end to this tragic absolvement of human rights.

The trial was the final trial of the “Rabaa Operations Room” case, and the sentences were handed down with many of the defendants not present.

The farcical trials of civilians in military courts, and the mass sentencing which Egypt has been witnessing since the military coup of July 2013, have been criticised by various International quarters time and again.

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ICFR calls for the Irish overnment to demand the immediate release of Irish national Ibrahim Halawa

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8 April 2015

Rights NGO: 194 death sentences in Egypt in 2015 first quarter

ICFR strongly condemns the imprisonment of Irish teenager Ibrahim Halawa and calls on the Irish Government to demand his immediate release.

Ibrahim was just 17 when he was arrested with his three older sisters after they sought shelter in a Cairo mosque after attending a pro-democracy protest in August 2013. jhjkh Although his siblings were released, Ibrahim was placed in adult custody, despite being a minor. He suffered beatings and has been denied medical treatment for a gunshot wound to his hand following his arrest, and as a result, his hand is now permanently disfigured.

Ibrahim, now 19, awaits a mass trial with 494 other detainees charged collectively with causing deaths and criminal damage. He faces the death penalty if convicted.

Ibrahim, as thousands of others languishing in Egypt’s prisons, has been repeatedly denied access to his lawyer and denied the right to a proper court hearing. His civil and basic human rights are being consistently and systematically violated by the Egyptian Government.

Ibrahim’s mockery hearing has been postponed time and time again, offering Ibrahim and his family further psychological torture. The latest postponement was on April 26, 2015.

ICFR demands that before this farcical trial is resumed and Ibrahim’s life is put at risk, the Irish Government, the EU and the free world calls for the release of Ibrahim and his safe return to his family in Dublin.

A specialised unit of the independent (non-government) Egyptian Observatory for Rights and Freedoms (EORF), monitoring violations of fair trial rights and procedures, issued a quarterly report on the violation of the principles of fair trials in cases heard by Egyptian courts against political detainees and opposition leaders in Egypt.

2,381 people were convicted by Egyptian courts during the first quarter of 2015, and dealt sentences as follows: - Death sentences: 194 people - Jail terms: 1,081 people were sentenced to various prison terms, totaling 11,666 years - Life imprisonment: 312 people - Imprisonment at high security jails: 116 people - Rigorous imprisonment (hard labour): 63 people - Suspended jail terms: 6 people - Imprisonment with ‘exemption from punishment': 2 people - Acquittals: 857 people - Fines only: 57 people - Sentences cancelled, re-trials ordered: 192 people Financial sanctions issued during the first quarter of 2015: - Bail total: 1,776,000 Egyptian Pounds (US$ 233,000) - Fines total: 84,468,500 Egyptian Pounds (US$ 11,070,143) EORF’s report stated that the right to a fair trial in Egypt is one of the most trampled rights since the June 30 events, especially after the justice system became an additional tool of repression, used by the military coup regime in Egypt to give a veneer of legality to the crimes it committed by ferocious arbitrary arrests among the ranks of its opponents.

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The report affirmed that the continued violation of Egyptian detainees’ right to fair trials is disconcerting, especially after hundreds of death sentences and life imprisonment rulings have been issued in trials where procedures were – to say the least – totally unrelated to justice. Thousands of other trials confirmed beyond the shade of a doubt that there are detainees and victims of the system who have – in one way or another – been denied the right to a fair trial. Indeed, many of those were unjustly convicted due to the lack of even the minimum conditions for a fair trial.

The EORF report further confirmed that there can be no fair trials in Egypt unless two conditions are met: Firstly, a commitment to conduct the trial, from beginning to end, according to the standards set out in international human rights instruments; Secondly, the independence of the judiciary so it becomes a truly independent and impartial authority. This has not been the case in all trials since the events of June 30.

10 April 2015

Scientist and students jailed amid rise in military trials

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were arrested last June following an anti-government protest. The verdicts can be appealed.

Scores of lecturers and students have been referred to military prosecution since last October when President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi – who temporarily holds legislative authority – issued a controversial decree expanding the powers of military courts. The decree empowers military tribunals to try civilians accused of attacking state institutions, including universities. Under the law, valid for two years, state institutions are considered military installations and thus come under the jurisdiction of military courts.

The move has drawn heavy criticism from local and foreign rights groups, who believe the decree is aimed at gagging dissent. The Egyptian authorities have taken a series of tough measures to deter student protesters, including a ban on political activities and expulsions of students and lecturers found guilty of involvement in on-campus protests.

According to the local non-governmental group, Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression, the police’s forcible break-up of student gatherings and storming of opposition students’ houses have been systematic since the academic year started in Egypt in mid-October 2014. The group reported that Egypt’s military courts last month handed down harsh sentences to university students on politically motivated charges.

There are no official figures on the number of students and lecturers tried before military courts in Egypt.

However, pro-democracy campaigners claim that hundreds of civilians have been referred to these tribunals since October.

An Egyptian military court has handed down varying jail terms of five to seven years to a university lecturer and seven students for holding an illegal protest – the latest rulings in an increasing number of military trials involving civilians.

The court recently sentenced Dr Abdul Dayem Sherif, an Islamist science professor at the state-run Mansoura University, to five years in prison on charges of illegal protesting and belonging to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

The court in the Nile Delta province of Mansoura also sentenced seven students detained in the same case to seven years in prison each on similar charges. The eight

Activists have launched online campaigns, pushing for an end to the military prosecution of civilians. Critics say military trials are usually held behind closed doors and adopt hasty procedures that do not guarantee a fair trial.

“Militarising the trials of civilians, including children, is taking Egypt in the wrong direction,” said Sarah Leah Whitson of the Human Rights Watch.

“President al-Sisi should repeal his October decree before more damage is done, if he has any concern for preserving Egypt’s reputation and the new constitution he has sworn to protect.”

Egypt’s military courts operate under the authority of the Ministry of Defence, not the civilian judicial authorities.

Proponents say the swift verdicts of military courts are a deterrent and can be appealed.

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11 April 2015

Egypt court confirms death sentence for Brotherhood leader and 11 others An Egyptian court sentenced Mohamed Badie, leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, and 13 other senior members of the group to death for allegedly inciting chaos and violence, and gave a life term to a US-Egyptian citizen for ties to the Brotherhood.

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Rights groups say Egypt, where a popular uprising toppled veteran autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011 and started years of political turmoil, is now cracking down on all dissent. Sisi says stability is needed to revive the shattered economy.

The session sentenced 51 people. Those who were not sentenced to death were given a life sentence. The long list of charges included leading and funding an outlawed group, overturning the constitution and planning to spread chaos, a court source said.

14 April 2015

Two judges referred to investigation for proposing an anti-torture draft law The men were among thousands of people detained after freely elected Islamist president Mohamed Morsi was toppled in 2013 by the military coup, headed by Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who is now president.

Egypt’s mass trials of Brotherhood members and people accused of links to the group, as well as its tough crackdown on Islamist and liberal opposition alike, have drawn international criticism of its judicial system and human rights record. The sentences, pronounced at a televised court session can be appealed before Egypt’s highest civilian court in a process that could take years to reach a final verdict.

US-Egyptian citizen Mohamed Soltan was sentenced to life in jail for supporting the veteran Islamist movement and transmitting false news. He is the son of Brotherhood preacher Salah Soltan, who was among those sentenced to death.

Mohamed Abdel-Mawgod, one of the defence lawyers, condemned the verdicts. “The court did not differentiate between the defendants and put them all in the same basket,” he told reporters at the courthouse. None of the defendants were present during the hearing.

Badie is the Brotherhood’s General Guide and has already been sentenced to several death and life sentences. His deputy Khairat El-Shater was given a life sentence.

In March, the two judges, Assem Abdel Gabbar from the Appeals Court and Hisham Abdel Raouf from the Cassation Court, both participated in an initiative led by the civil society organisation United Group to draft a bill criminalising torture in police stations and detention facilities.

Raouf also prepared a study titled “Torture is a crime against humanity” six months ago where he heavily criticised the legal status of torture in the penal code, concluding that major loopholes allow those who commit torture to evade punishment. In the study, he recommended new amendments to the penal code should be in accordance with international treaties against torture.

Gabbar, one of the two judges referred to investigation, said that he was not officially notified about the investigation, but added that he got confirmation from journalists that the Cassation Court had decided to appoint a judge to conduct the investigation.

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Gabbar expressed his astonishment at the decision, explaining that this is not the first time he helped proposed a draft law aimed at improving rights, explaining he previously participated in proposing a draft law on freedom of information. “The law in question is the same draft law that the Justice Ministry presented to the government in 2013, so I really do not understand what the problem is,” he continued.

However, the draft law is different from the Justice Ministry’s in that it proposes harsher sentences for those who commit torture violations and puts direct legal responsibility on heads of police stations and detention facilities for torture crimes even if they are not directly involved in violations. “Maybe this is what angered authorities. What I did is part of my background as a judge working in criminal judiciary. We put a draft law in accordance with international covenants and the constitution in a fully transparent manner,” Gabbar defended himself.

Negad al-Borai, rights lawyer and head of United Group, denounced the decision to refer the two judges to investigation saying the investigation shows that the government does not want to put an end to torture: “The government and the judiciary do not want to end torture, if they investigate whoever works on putting a scientific framework to end this shameful practice.”

When asked what he expects, Gabbar said: “I welcome any sort of investigation because I have nothing to hide.

In such circumstances, it is hard to put any expectations for what may happen.”

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The latest Democracy Index released on Tuesday said that Egypt has seen “1461 incidents of political violence” during the first quarter of this year, since the coup against the legitimate president Mohamed Morsi, in July 2013.

The incidents of violence has affected Cairo as well as other cities, with acts of political violence drastically increasing in the country since the violent clearing of the sit-ins in Rabaa al-Adaweyya and Nahda squares in August 2013, which saw the killing of over 1,500 people.

The report, issued by the International Development Centre, said that the month of January saw the highest levels of violence and political terrorism, seeing 664 incidents, while 419 incidents were reported in February, and 378 in March, according to Reuters News agency.

Thus, Egypt has witnessed 1461 cases of political violence during the first three months of this year, an average of 16 incidents a day, and an incident every 3 hours.

The report said that “the violence by the regime against citizens opposing the regime has increased alarmingly.”

The report said that violence has been reported in 25 Egyptian Governorates, with Cairo seeing the highest number of incidents (177 incidents), and Northern Sinai (156 incidents) seeing the deadliest forms of violence among the governorates.

20 April 2015

Two detainees die in Old Cairo police station

15 April 2015

Democracy index report: The regimes’ violence against dissent in Egypt is increasing at an alarming rate Two detainees have died in an Old Cairo police station due to the lack of ventilation, with the prosecution ordering an autopsy of the bodies, state media said. The Ministry of Interior said the deaths were due to a “circulatory failure”.

The first incident happened when a prisoner suffered a heart attack due to the police station’s crowded detention room. The deceased was accused of stealing a car battery.

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The second case, the prosecution said, suffered circulatory failure and received first aid from his fellow inmates and the police station medics, but died instantly. He was charged with narcotics possession.

Reuters. The men were all accused of carrying out an attack on a police station in the Kerdasa district near Cairo in 2013, judicial sources said. One policeman was killed in the attack.

After investigating the death, the prosecution said the number of detainees in the cell was 380, while its capacity allows only 100 prisoners.

A juvenile defendant was given a 10-year sentence, the sources told Reuters. A lawyer representing the men said that they would appeal. The incident was part of the wave of violence that hit Egypt after the July 2013 removal of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president.

Since the beginning of the year, the number of deaths in police custody has been increasing. Last week, Prosecutor General Hisham Barakat organised a visit to detention centres at a number of police stations, where he observed several “violations”, such as the presence of insects and rubbish, state media reported.

The police stations included the Ain Shams, El-Marg, Shubra El-Kheima, and Matariya. Matariya police station is controversially known on the political scene as the “slaughter house”, in reference to the abundance of torture cases against detainees who are pending investigations.

Other violations observed by the prosecution were overcrowdedness, which “can lead to the spread of diseases and the deaths of diabetes and blood pressure patients”. The members of the prosecution said that the conditions of the cells were “inhumane”.

Last January, Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report strongly criticising Egyptian authorities for failing to improve detention conditions or to independently investigate reported detainees’ deaths as a result of physical torture inside prisons.

Since Morsi’s ousting, authorities have launched a widespread crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood supporters as well as other opponents. Courts have sentenced hundreds to death in mass trials, with tens of thousands thoughts to be languishing in Egyptian jails.

More than 1,400 people have been killed.

The judge overseeing Monday’s decision was Mohamed Nagi Shehata, who has played a prominent role in the judiciary’s mass detentions of political opponents on both sides of the political spectrum.

20 April 2015

Egypt sentences football fans to death in retrial after 2012 riot

20 April 2015

Court sentences 22 to death over Kerdasa violence A court in Egypt has sentenced 11 football fans to death after a retrial over a 2012 stadium riot in Port Said that left 74 people dead.

An Egyptian court sentenced 22 members of the Muslim Brotherhood to death on Monday, judicial sources told

An appeals court had ordered the retrial of 73 defendants in February last year after it rejected a lower court verdict in 2013, sentencing 21 people to death for being involved in the incident. The riot occurred in February 2012 when fans of the home team Al-Masry clashed with those of Cairo’s Al-Ahly after a match between the two clubs.

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The death sentences given have been referred to the grand mufti, Egypt’s highest Islamic legal official. Although his ruling is not binding, Egyptian law requires any capital sentence to be referred to the mufti for a religious opinion before any execution can take place. A final decision about the 11 fans’ fate, as well as those of the other defendants, is expected on 30 May.

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23 April 2015

Abuse and torture does not exclude children in Egyptian prisons

The 73 defendants include nine police officers and three officials from Al-Masry, while the rest were fans of the two clubs. None of the families of the victims or defendants attended the court session.

21 April 2015

Egypt’s first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, sentenced to 20 years

The detained minor, Ahmed Ezz, has been subjected to constant torture for five days at the hands of members of the security forces at Al-Zahoor Police station in Port Said Governorate.

Ahmeds family have launched a distress call to human rights organisations for an urgent intervention with Egyptian authorities to stop the torture of their son.

The family have said that Ahmed, a 13-year old middle school student, has not only endured physical torture, but has had violations imposed on him through the prison management who have deprived the child of food.

An Egyptian court sentenced ousted President Mohamed Morsi to 20 year in jail on violence-related charges. Morsi, Egypt’s first freely elected president, was found guilty of inciting the murder of demonstrators outside Cairo’s Ittihadiya presidential palace in 2012. Morsi’s lawyer said, they will appeal the jail sentence in the trial.

Tuesday’s verdict was the first against Morsi since his ouster and imprisonment by the army in mid-2013. Since then, he has been slapped with numerous criminal charges, which he and his supporters insist are politically motivated.

Although a total of 11 people-including eight Morsi supporters-were killed in the violence, the trial only addresses the death of one reporter and two anti-Morsi demonstrators.

Morsi was ousted by the military in July of 2013 after only one year in office following protests against his presidency.

Egyptian media outlets quoted Ahmeds father as saying: “My son has been held in Al-Zahoor Police station since five days ago and is denied any food or drink, putting his life in danger. I hold the Security Director, Prison Warden and detective head of department full responsibility.” Ahmeds father added: “I appeal to all human rights organisations to intervene and save my son from dying inside Al-Zahoor Prison station.”

Security forces arrested Ahmed a week ago, after several attempts of arresting his father ended in vain. Lawyers from the World Alliance for Rights and Freedoms said about the incident: the Egyptian security forces were not satisfied with their arbitrary arrest of a minor, who has not exceeded 15 years of age, but have gone further and violated his rights as a child and as a human being, which confirms their insistence incommitting these violations which have been criminalised under all legislations and international conventions.

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