The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), Hisham Mubarak Law Center (HMLC) and the Nadeem Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence today condemned the arbitrary detention of antiwar activist Kamal Khalil, director of the Center for Socialist Studies in Cairo.

Khalil was last seen by his family on the morning of Wednesday, 18 February. Although authorities have refused formal acknowledgement of the fact, representatives of the family have been informed by officers that he is being held in State Security detention. No charge has been pressed, his location is unknown, and he has been denied direct contact with his family or an attorney.

The three organizations are particularly concerned at State interference with Khalil's rights to health and bodily integrity. Khalil recently underwent surgery for a hernia, and suffers from asthma. He urgently requires medication for both conditions. Since, the arrest, family representatives have been trying to deliver medicine to authorities at State Security, but without success.

The United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners require, in their article 22, that all detainees have access to treatment and to pharmaceutical supplies for medical conditions, and, where necessary, to hospital care.

The state of emergency, which has been in force in Egypt for over thirty years allows the indefinite, incommunicado detention of prisoners, without charge or legal recourse. Khalil is the latest in a series of activists opposed to a possible war in Iraq who have been detained in Egypt. The EIPR, HMLC and the Nadeem Center call for the release of all those arrested for the exercise of their rights to freedom of expression and assembly. The three groups also call on authorities to end the practice of torture, and to exhibit and ensure full respect for the health and bodily integrity of all detainees.

For more information:

Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights:
Tel/fax: (202) 7950 582- 7962 682
E-mail: eiprcairo@yahoo.com

Hisham Mubarak Law Center:
Tel/fax: (202) 575 8908
E-mail: hmlc@link.net

Al-Nadeem Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence:
Tel/fax: (202) 577 6792
E-mail: nadeem@intouch.com