Wayzata World Factbook 1996/The World Factbook - 1996 Edition - Wayzata Technology (3079) (1996).iso/pc/text/humanrts/egypt.txt

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TITLE: EGYPT HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES, 1994
AUTHOR: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DATE: FEBRUARY 1995

                             EGYPT


According to its Constitution, Egypt is a social democracy in
which Islam is the state religion.  The President is Hosni
Mubarak, who was reelected unopposed to a third 6-year term by
the People's Assembly in 1993.  The President appoints the
Cabinet which is responsible to him.  His party, the National
Democratic Party (NDP), has governed since its establishment in
1978.  It commands large majorities in the popularly elected
People's Assembly and the Shura (Consultative) Council.  One
opposition party is represented in the People's Assembly; the
others boycotted the previous People's Assembly election in
1990 and are not represented.

There are several security services in the Ministry of
Interior, two of which are primarily involved in combating
extremist violence:  the State Security Investigations Sector
(SSIS), which conducts investigations and interrogates
detainees; and the Central Security Force (CSF), which enforces
curfews, bans on public demonstrations, and conducts
paramilitary operations against terrorists.

Egypt is a developing country with a mixed economy dominated by
the public sector.  Agriculture, an almost entirely private
sector, remains the largest single employer.  Remittances from
approximately 2 million Egyptians working in the Gulf countries
are the largest source of foreign currency earnings.  In the
past 4 years, the Government has enacted significant economic
reforms, which have reduced the budget deficit and stabilized
the exchange rate, but has made slow progress on other reforms,
including privatization.

The Constitution provides for various human rights, including a
multiparty political system, regular elections, the rule of
law, an independent judiciary, freedom of opinion, and the
right to peaceable private assembly.  However, the Emergency
Law continues to restrict many basic rights.

There continued to be widespread human rights violations in
1994.  The security services and terrorist groups remained
locked in a cycle of violence.  Security forces committed human
rights abuses in their campaign against terrorist groups, but
frequently victimized noncombatants as well.  Under the
Emergency Law, abuses included the widespread torture of
detainees in security cases, the Government's continued failure
to punish those responsible for torture, arbitrary arrest, and
detention without trial, and the use of military courts to try
suspected terrorists.  The Government continued to arrest and
harass journalists and lawyers who defended accused Islamists.
Terrorists bombed banks, attacked and killed government
officials, security forces, Egyptian Christians, and foreign
tourists, and were responsible for the majority of civilian
deaths in 1994.

The ruling NDP dominates the political scene to such an extent
that, as a practical matter, the citizens do not have a
meaningful ability to change their government.  The Government
continues to restrict substantially basic rights of expression
and the press.  Women and Egyptian Christians face
discrimination based on tradition and some aspects of the law.

RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Section 1  Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including
           Freedom from:

     a.  Political and Other Extrajudicial Killing

In 1994 the state security police were implicated in several
extrajudicial killings.  In virtually all cases, the Government
has not adequately investigated or explained the causes of
death.  On February 1, police raided a house in Cairo, killing
7 suspected terrorists.  The police maintain that a 3-hour
shootout began when one of the suspects inside the house opened
fire on the approaching police.  However, witnesses later told
the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) that the
shootout lasted a matter of seconds, followed by a pause, and a
later burst of gunfire after the police had entered the house.
One policeman was wounded in the incident.  The mother of one
of those killed filed a complaint against the police, alleging
that security forces had executed her son.  She retracted her
complaint after the police detained her for 12 hours.

On February 14, security forces shot dead three alleged
extremists in a Cairo neighborhood.  According to the Ministry
of Interior, the police acted in self-defense after the
suspects opened fire on a patrol in an alley.  However,
witnesses claimed that they observed the police arrest four
suspects, place three of them into a police truck, and later
heard suspected gunfire from within the truck.  Witnesses
further claimed that they observed security officers dump three
bodies from the truck onto the street and place guns and
ammunition purportedly belonging to the dead suspects near the
bodies.  Local human rights monitors who inspected the scene
concluded that the traces of blood on the street were too small
to be consistent with the Government's claim that the suspects
were shot on the spot in an exchange of fire.  No information
is available concerning the fourth detainee.

On April 26, officials of the state security police arrested
Islamist lawyer Abdel Hareth Madani at his office in Cairo.
Madani died in police custody at a hospital early on April 27.
The state security police did not inform Madani's family until
May 6.  The police did not allow Madani's family to view the
body, which was transported in a sealed coffin to his village
for burial.  The Government initially claimed that Madani had
died of an asthma attack, despite claims by morgue workers that
they observed puncture wounds and bruises on Madani's body
while preparing it for burial.  In May the Ministry of Justice
announced that it would conduct an investigation of Madani's
death.  At year's end, the results of the ongoing investigation
had not been made public.  The Minister of Interior has
nonetheless publicly denied any police wrongdoing in Madani's
death, maintaining that Madani died of natural causes.

Also in April, local human rights monitors claim that Mohammed
Abdel Hamid Hassan died in Abu Zabaal prison near Cairo,
following beatings by a prison officer.  Hassan was serving a
3-year sentence for sale of drugs; his body was allegedly
thrown from a fourth-floor window to conceal the cause of
death.  The Prosecutor General's office investigated the case
and charged the officer with Hassan's death.  The officer was
released on bail, pending further investigation.

In August Fateh al-Bab Abdel Manem died at a police station in
the Cairo suburb of Helwan, following his arrest on drug
charges.  He was detained along with his wife and son.
According to human rights monitors, Abdel Manem died after 12
continuous hours of torture, witnessed by his son.  The autopsy
report indicates cause of death as cerebral hemorrhage and
"major wounds to the body."  The Prosecutor General's office
has stated it will investigate the death but at year's end had
not made public its findings.

In 1993 at least 12 persons died from injuries sustained while
in police custody, and 2 others died amid charges of inadequate
medical treatment.  The Government reported that it had
referred security officials for prosecution in the cases of the
death of Sayyed Hassan Fetouh and Hassan Salah Sayyed.  At
year's end, the officers had not been brought to trial.  The
Government continued investigations of possible criminal
conduct in the 1993 deaths in police custody of Effat Mohammed
Ali Wali, al-Muhamdi Mohammed Mohammed Mursi, Mohammed Gomma
Abdel Sayyed, Eissa Taher Soliman, and Amre Mohammed Safwat.

The Government closed the cases of Ahmed Farouk Ahmed Ali,
Abdel Sattar Abdalrah Rashwan, Mohammed Abdel Hamid, and
Mohammed Ateya Shamardan, ruling that in the cases of Ali,
Hamid, and Shamardan, death occurred as the result of
preexisting medical disorders.  The death of Rashwan was ruled
accidental electrocution.  The Government claimed it had no
records of the arrests of Bahaa el-Din Abdel Raouf Mohammed,
Mohammed Hossain Mohammed, or Ahman Abdel Rahman Mohammed,
whose relatives claim they were last seen in police custody.
The Government's report on these cases left unanswered several
questions raised by the relatives of the deceased persons and
human rights groups.  The Government stated that it will try to
resolve the inconsistencies and provide further information.

The press reported that at least 286 people were killed in
civil unrest in 1994 compared with 201 in 1993.  In
antiextremist operations, security forces killed at least 139
suspected extremists, 5 civilian bystanders, and a fellow
policeman by friendly fire.  The security forces appear to have
caused some of these deaths by the excessive use of lethal
force.

In April security forces in Assiyut opened fire on a taxi
stopped at a police roadblock, killing the driver and three
passengers, including a woman.  The police maintained that one
of the passengers tried to kill an officer at the roadblock.
However, local human rights monitors believe that the shooting
broke out when a policeman's weapon accidentally misfired,
provoking others to open fire on the car.

In October security forces used lethal force in quelling a
demonstration in support of a strike by textile workers (see
Section 6.a.).

Terrorists killed at least 101 members of the security forces
and 40 civilians, including a witness in the trial of persons
indicted for the November 1993 assassination attempt on Prime
Minister Atef Sedky.  In four incidents, extremists attacked
foreign tourist groups, killing five tourists and several
Egyptian bystanders.

In October a suspected terrorist stabbed Naguib Mahfouz, an
Egyptian novelist, Nobel laureate, and antifundamentalist
critic, in the neck with a knife.  Mahfouz survived.  As they
have in recent years, Islamic extremists targeted Egyptian
Christians, attacking churches and other properties owned by
Copts, and are believed to have murdered at least nine Copts
(see Section 5).

Extremist groups took responsibility for the following murders
of senior government and police officials:  police Brigadier
General Raouf Khairat in Cairo on February 10, and the Director
of Central Security Forces in Assiyut, General Sherine Ali
Fahmi, on February 20.

     b.  Disappearance

Mansur Kikhya, a former Libyan Foreign Minister under Colonel
Qadhafi and a prominent exiled dissident, disappeared from
Cairo in December 1993.  The Government has been unable to
account for Kikhya's disappearance.  Some observers, citing
Libya's long history of antidissident campaigns, believe that
Libyan operatives abducted Kikhya.  Kikhya's whereabouts are
still unknown.

In December local human rights monitors published a report on
disappearances, which claims that 11 people disappeared in 1994
after their arrests.  It recounts the unsuccessful efforts by
family members and nongovernmental organizations to locate them
in the detention system.  According to the report, the number
of disappearances in 1994 was "unprecedented," compared to
three disappearances in 1991 and three in 1993.  At year's end,
the Government had not yet responded to the report.

     c.  Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading
         Treatment or Punishment

There is convincing evidence that the police and officers of
the SSIS systematically practice torture.  The law does not
adequately protect citizens from physical abuse by security
forces.  Article 126 of the Penal Code prohibits torture to
obtain a confession but is silent on the mistreatment of
detainees for other reasons.  Punishment for offenders is
imprisonment for a maximum of 10 years.  A 1-year sentence and
a modest fine may be imposed if the injury does not reach the
level of bleeding or wounding.  However, Article 126 does not
address such abuses as blindfolding and prolonged interrogation
and handcuffing.

The Minister of Interior stated several times in 1994 that
torture does not exist in detention facilities.  Instances may
occur, he said, but they are isolated and not official
government policy.  The Minister also stated that the
authorities investigate all allegations and punish those
responsible.  Government officials have accused human rights
organizations of focusing on the rights of accused terrorists,
while ignoring those of the victims of extremist attacks.
Officials argued that international human rights groups
exaggerate torture reports and that their reporting does not
take into account the extreme nature of the security threat.
However, the record indicates that the Government does not
adequately investigate torture complaints in cases involving
suspected terrorists.  Since 1985, there is no evidence that
officers implicated in such cases have been prosecuted or
punished.

While the Government has investigated torture complaints in
criminal cases and punished some offending officers, the
punishments do not necessarily relate to the seriousness of the
injury.  In August the press reported that a senior SSIS
officer received 6 months' imprisonment for permanently
crippling a suspect during interrogation.

Officers of the SSIS allegedly are responsible for most of the
torture used on suspected terrorist detainees.  Prisoners
report that torture takes place in police stations, SSIS
headquarters in Cairo, and the governorates, and at Central
Security Force camps.  Torture is used to extract information,
coerce the victims to end their antigovernment activities, and
deter others from such activities.  Torture victims are usually
taken to a state security office where they are handcuffed,
blindfolded, and questioned about their associations, religious
beliefs, and political views.  Victims have reported the
following torture methods:  detainees are frequently stripped
to their underwear; hung by their wrists with their feet
touching the floor or forced to stand for prolonged periods;
doused with hot and cold water; beaten; forced to stand
outdoors in cold weather; and subjected to electric shocks.
Some victims, including female detainees, report they have been
raped or threatened with rape; others report that security
officers have inserted solid objects, including electric
devices, into their anuses.

Written records of detainees' whereabouts are not kept while
they are in the custody of the state security police, a period
which may last 10 days or longer.  Records are maintained only
after security forces deliver the detainee to a prison.  The
absence of such a record in the early days of detention invites
abuse and effectively blocks the investigation of torture
complaints.  The security forces also transfer detainees from
prisons to other facilities where they are interrogated,
tortured, and then returned to prison.  No written records are
kept on such transfers.

To pressure male fugitives to surrender, security forces have
taken into custody their relatives, including minors and female
family members.  An undetermined number of such detainees have
been subjected to physical abuse.

According to government sources, the prisons have a 400-percent
occupancy rate, resulting in unhealthy living conditions,
severe overcrowding, and occasional outbreaks of disease.  Many
of the country's 31 prisons were constructed during the Ottoman
era.  Prisoners report cells are poorly ventilated, and food is
inadequate in quantity and nutritional value.

Prison officials occasionally levy collective punishment on
inmates, suspending visits and delivery of food to inmates by
their families.  According to official prison sources, in
Qanater women's prison, the prison doctor was prosecuted for
sexually molesting 12 female prisoners during examinations.
Prisoners reported that prison guards beat a number of women in
the aftermath of the scandal, and a sweep of the prison
facilities resulted in the confiscation and destruction of many
prisoners' clothes and personal belongings.

As many as 28 adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 have
reportedly been detained in the Assiyut General Prison, a
facility for adults.  The charges against the adolescents
reportedly include membership in the illegal Islamic Group,
monitoring the movements of the police, and attempting to break
into a mosque.  The adolescents allege that they were
blindfolded and tortured at the state security police
headquarters in Assiyut or at local police stations in southern
Egypt.  Torture methods reportedly included suspension,
electric shocks, and beatings with sticks.  In some cases,
electricity was reportedly applied to the penis and tongue.
Some of the adolescents have been detained for prolonged
periods without trial, in one case since 1993.

Prison officials impose particularly harsh living conditions on
some categories of prisoners such as Islamic activists.
Al-Aqrab prison, which houses security suspects, has been
closed to all visitors, including lawyers, since January,
despite an administrative court order in April annulling the
Ministry of Interior's ban.

     d.  Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile

Arbitrary arrest and detention are commonly used against
suspected terrorists and others suspected of threatening
national security.  However, according to local human rights
groups, in some mass security operations, security forces have
subjected entire villages to collective punishments, such as
curfews and mass arrests.  Frequently, the police have taken
into custody nonviolent Islamists and persons with no
association with extremist groups.  Such arrests and detentions
are conducted under the State of Emergency which has been in
effect since President Sadat's assassination in 1981.

In April the People's Assembly renewed the Emergency Law until
May 31, 1997.  Government supporters claim that the Emergency
Law is a temporary measure used only to fight terrorism or drug
trafficking.  However, the Emergency Law has been in force so
long that it has become an important characteristic of the
political and legal system and is an impediment to the
improvement of the human rights situation.  Under the Emergency
Law, there is a continuous flow of new arrests and releases
from detention.  Mass arrests continued in 1994, despite the
Minister of Interior's stated intention in 1993 to deemphasize
these arrests.

Under the Emergency Law, the Interior Minister may detain an
individual without indictment for 90 days.  Detention orders
are issued by public prosecutors who have limited powers to
commit individuals to confinement.  Some detainees are not
allowed to inform their relatives of their detention, and
access to legal counsel is frequently delayed.  In theory,
those arrested under the Emergency Law should be released after
90 days.  In practice, the Government rearrests detainees who
have been released by court order.  The procedure in effect
detains them without due process for prolonged periods.

Under the Penal Code, arrested persons are charged with
violations of specific laws, have the right to a judicial
determination of the legality of arrest, and should be formally
charged within 48 hours of arrest or be released.  Arrests
under this procedure occur openly and with warrants issued by a
district prosecutor or a judge.  There is a system of bail.
The Penal Code also gives the State wide detention powers.
State prosecutors may obtain court orders to detain individuals
for 45 days and to confine them for up to 6 months to complete
investigations.  Detainees are often released without
explanation or acknowledgment that charges have been dropped.

The Penal Code contains several provisions to combat extremist
violence.  These provisions broadly define terrorism to include
the acts of "spreading panic" and "obstructing the work of
authorities," allow the police to hold suspects for 24 hours
before obtaining arrest warrants, and prescribe the death
penalty for persons found guilty of terrorism and life
imprisonment for membership in a terrorist group.

Human rights observers report that the security forces maintain
an unauthorized permanent presence in prisons.  This practice
purportedly violates Article 40 of the Criminal Procedures Code
which prohibits contact between intelligence officers and
prisoners.  SSIS officers reportedly frequently remove
prisoners from their cells and take them to other locations for
questioning.

Official sources estimate the total prison population at
14,000, of which 5,000 are security cases.  They note that
approximately 4,000 detainees are held without charge.  These
numbers do not include the undetermined number of persons who
are in detention prior to their entrance in the prison system
(see Section 1.c.).

In May the Government detained 41 lawyers following a
demonstration at the Bar Association building in Cairo by
lawyers protesting the death in police custody of Abdel Hareth
Madani (see Section 1.b.).  Some of the detained lawyers were
charged with demonstrating illegally and threatening public
order, while others, acting as their defense attorneys, were
accused of incitement.  Some were detained without charge.
None was tried.  All but one, Montasser Al-Zayyat, were
released after 3 to 4 weeks in detention.  Al-Zayyat is the
self-declared spokesman for the Islamic Group, as well as a
well-known attorney who has defended accused extremists,
including Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman.  State prosecutors ordered
his release from detention on December 6; he still faces
possible trial on charges of his association with an illegal
terrorist organization and contact with terrorists.

In other cases, security forces continue to detain at least 150
former defendants who have been acquitted in court.  Some have
been held for as long as 3 or 4 years.

In September the police reportedly arrested hundreds of people
to prevent any disruption of the U.N. International Conference
on Population and Development, which was held in Cairo.  The
police targeted extremists who were reportedly planning to
attack the conference.

In October the police arrested hundreds of persons in Cairo and
Hurghada in a security sweep.  The arrests followed the
September 27 killing at a Red Sea resort town of a German
tourist and two Egyptian citizens by suspected terrorists.

Human rights observers estimate that 20 Palestinians are in
detention.  In September the Government released 34
Palestinians at the request of a Palestinian human rights group
and expelled them to Gaza.  Some Palestinians who are still in
detention entered Egypt illegally, while others are legal
residents and are under investigation for alleged political
activities.  Some Palestinian detainees have reportedly been
tortured.  One Palestinian was executed in 1994 after
conviction for involvement in terrorist offenses.

     e.  Denial of Fair Public Trial

Although the judiciary in recent years has exercised
considerable independence, the Government continued to
circumvent the regular court system by trying accused
terrorists in military courts, in which they do not receive
fair trials.

There are three levels of civilian criminal courts:  primary
courts, appeals courts, and the Court of Cassation, the final
stage of criminal appeal.  There is also a Supreme
Constitutional Court, but its jurisdiction is limited to
constitutional challenges.  It does not hear criminal appeals.
The judicial system is based on the Napoleonic tradition, hence
there are no juries.  Criminal cases are heard by panels of
three judges.  Most trials are public.

In the civilian court system, the President appoints all judges
based on nominations from the Higher Judicial Council, a
constitutional body designed to ensure the independence of the
judiciary.  The Council is composed of senior judges, lawyers,
and law professors and is chaired by the President of the Court
of Cassation.  It regulates judicial promotions, salaries,
transfers, and disciplinary actions.  In practice, however, the
Minister of Justice, an executive branch officer, has
considerable influence over judicial appointments and
transfers.  Judges may be appointed as prosecutors, and vice
versa.

There are three special courts for crimes considered to touch
upon national security:  state security courts, courts of
ethics, and military courts.  The state security courts have
jurisdiction over serious offenses, such as armed
insurrection.  They are divided into upper and lower
divisions.  Trials are heard by three judges, but two military
officers may be added by presidential decree to the upper
division.  Defendants before a state security court may be
indicted under the Penal Code or the Emergency Law.  When an
indictment is handed down under the Emergency Law, the court is
designated an Emergency State Security Court.

A defendant has no judicial appeal from an Emergency State
Security Court.  However, he may file an appeal for clemency
from the President, or the Prime Minister acting for the
President, who is empowered to amend, commute, or cancel a
sentence, or order a retrial.  These powers imply that an
acquittal may be canceled and the defendant retried for the
same offense.

The Court of Ethics hears cases prosecuted under Law 95 of 1980
which makes illegal such activities as "endangering the public
safety," inciting youth "to depart from religious values and
loyalty to the fatherland," and denying the three "heavenly
religions."  It has an upper and lower division.  In recent
years, the ethics courts have been used relatively infrequently
to try "economic crimes," such as corruption and drug
trafficking.  An ethics court conviction denies the defendant
the right to engage in certain occupations or activities.
A person may be tried in a state security court and an ethics
court on similar indictments:  in the former for criminal
offenses and in the latter for the financial gains associated
with those offenses.  Ethics courts have confiscated financial
gains obtained under indictable offenses and may add prison
terms to those meted out by state security courts.  If the
ethics and state security courts reach different verdicts, the
defendant may appeal to the President for a pardon.

As part of their independence from the Government, judges have
ordered inquests into torture cases; acquitted defendants in
cases in which confessions were extracted by torture;
challenged the ban on workers' strikes; defended the right to
nonviolent ideological opinion; overturned bans on prohibited
political parties; and overturned an election law that
discriminated against independent candidates and ordered
dissolved the People's Assembly elected thereunder.

Nonetheless, the judiciary is still subject to considerable
outside influence.  The ethics courts allow nonjurists to try
cases.  The President may appoint military judges to try cases
in the security courts.  The executive branch does not always
enforce court orders.  Detainees may be rearrested under the
Emergency Law without formal charge, even if previously
released by a court.  In 1994, in contrast to previous years,
no defendants in terrorism trials were acquitted on the basis
of torture, although, according to Egyptian human rights
monitors, the majority of such defendants claimed they had been
tortured.

Since 1992 the Government has tried at least 543 civilian
defendants in military courts for terrorist acts or membership
in subversive organizations.  Defendants have been tried in
groups as few as 8 and as many as 32.  The Government claims
that civilian trials are too lengthy and civilian judges too
susceptible to intimidation to warrant their use in terrorist
cases.  In 1994 the Government referred for trial in military
courts at least 97 civilians for terrorist acts or membership
in subversive organizations.  Through September, these courts
sentenced 22 defendants to death, 42 to prison, and acquitted 3.

Each military court comprises three military officers.  The
presiding judge usually has general officer rank.  In January
1993, the Supreme Constitutional Court upheld the use of
military courts to try civilian cases.  It ruled that the
President, acting under powers in the Emergency Law, is
authorized to refer "any crime" to a military court.

The Government maintains that civilian defendants receive fair
trials in the military courts.  It argues that all military
judges have the same legal training as judges in the civilian
courts; defense attorneys are accorded sufficient time to
review the prosecution's files and inspect the State's
evidence; trials are conducted under the same procedures used
in civilian courts; defense attorneys have the right to
cross-examine and to call any witness; military judges apply
only the Penal Code in trying cases involving civilian
defendants--no civilian defendant is subject to military law or
military punishments; there are adequate safeguards against the
admission of confessions obtained under duress; defense
attorneys are appointed by the Bar Association at state expense
for indigent defendants; verdicts are reviewed by two panels of
military judges, who examine the trial procedures before they
forward the verdicts to the President for ratification; and all
defendants have a constitutional right to appeal to the
President for clemency.