Twelve Egyptian
human rights organizations today sent a letter to Louise Arbour, United
Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights demanding an international
fact-finding team to investigate the violent removal by Egyptian security
forces of Sudanese protestors in Cairo's Mostafa Mahmoud Square on 30
December, 2005, which left dozens of the protestors dead.
The
organizations noted that the Egyptian government has consistently failed
over the past years to conduct independent and impartial investigations into
well-documented, serious abuses committed by security forces. The letter
gave as an example of this failure the decision by the Public Prosecutor on
27 December 2005 to close the investigation into physical and sexual
assaults on peaceful demonstrators and journalists on 25 May 2005 without
assigning responsibility or issuing any indictments.
Other recent examples of the Egyptian government's inaction cited in the
letter included the refusal to investigate the violent repression of
anti-war demonstrators in 2003; the widespread arbitrary arrests and torture
of detainees in the context of investigating the Taba bombings in October
2004; the severe beating of peaceful demonstrators protesting President
Mubarak's decision to rerun for Presidency on 30 July 2005; and the violence
against, and intimidation of voters during the recent parliamentary
elections in late 2005, which has left at least 16 voters killed.
"These previous incidents, together with the statements of Egyptian
officials which have consistently blamed the Sudanese protestors for
provoking the violence and denied any responsibility on the part of security
forces for the deaths and injuries, cast serious doubts on the ability or
willingness of the Egyptian government to investigate this "terrible
tragedy", in the words of the UN Secretary General, and to punish the
perpetrators," the organization told the top UN rights official.
The
organizations asked Ms. Arbour to urgently dispatch a fact-finding mission
to Cairo to investigate the excessive use of force and other human rights
violations committed by security forces, as well as the conduct of UNHCR,
and to make the findings of this investigation public. They also urged the
High Commissioner to take steps to ensure that the Egyptian government
fulfills its obligations under international human rights law to investigate
these serious human rights violations, bring their perpetrators to justice,
compensate the victims and halt any deportation without due process of law
of any of the protestors back to Sudan.
The
letter was signed by the Nadim Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of
Violence, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, Cairo Institute for
Human Rights Studies, Hisham Mubarak Law Center, the Association for Human
Rights Legal Aid, the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, the
Egyptian Association against Torture, Andalus Institute for Tolerance and
Anti-Violence Studies, the Association for Freedom of Thought and
Expression, the Egyptian Center for Housing Rights the Egyptian Center for
the Rights of Child and the Civil Observatory for Human Rights.
Below is the text of the letter:
Cairo, 9 January, 2006
The Honorable Ms. Louise Arbour
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
United Nations Office at Geneva
1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Dear Ms. Arbour,
We
are writing to you regarding the recent violent removal by Egyptian security
forces on 30 December 2005 of Sudanese refugees, asylum seekers and migrants
who had been participating in a peaceful protest in Mohandiseen, Cairo since
September 2005. The security operation, which resorted to water canons and
indiscriminate beatings, resulted in the killing of 27 protestors according
to official statements, while protest leaders and independent human rights
monitors estimate the number of those killed to have reached over seventy.
While these deadly attacks were immediately condemned by the United Nations
Secretary General and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), your
Office has so far refrained from publicly commenting on the excessive use of
force by Egyptian security forces.
The
Egyptian government has consistently failed over the past years to conduct
independent and impartial investigations into well-documented, serious
abuses committed by security forces. The latest incident of such failure was
the decision by the Public Prosecutor on 25 December 2005 to close the
investigation into physical and sexual assaults on peaceful demonstrators
and journalists on 25 May 2005 without assigning responsibility or issuing
any indictments. Similarly, the Egyptian government has recently refused to
investigate the violent repression of anti-war demonstrators in 2003; the
widespread arbitrary arrests and torture of detainees in the context of
investigating the Taba bombings in October 2004; the severe beating of
peaceful demonstrators protesting President Mubarak's decision to rerun for
Presidency on 30 July 2005; and the violence against, and intimidation of
voters during the recent parliamentary elections in late 2005, which has
left at least 16 voters killed.
These previous incidents, together with the statements of Egyptian officials
which have consistently blamed the Sudanese protestors for provoking the
violence and denied any responsibility on the part of security forces for
the deaths and injuries, cast serious doubts on the ability or willingness
of the Egyptian government to investigate this "terrible tragedy", in the
words of the UN Secretary General, and to punish the perpetrators.
We
welcome the priority given to establishing accountability and fighting
impunity for human rights violations since your appointment as UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights and previously as chief prosecutor of the
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. We are satisfied
by the focus of your Office's Plan of Action on greater country engagement
to close the "implementation gap", including through the rapid deployment of
human rights staff when needed. We were also encouraged by your initiative
to dispatch fact-finding teams to Uzbekistan and Togo in 2005 to investigate
and report on human rights violations. We strongly believe that similar
procedures are necessary for responding to the 30 December killings and
preventing similar abuses from occurring in the future.
We
therefore strongly recommend that you urgently dispatch a fact-finding
mission to Cairo to investigate the excessive use of force and other human
rights violations committed by security forces and to make the findings of
this investigation public. This investigation should also include the
conduct of UNHCR. At a minimum, we request that you publicly condemn the
killing of dozens of Sudanese protestors, and take steps to ensure that the
Egyptian government fulfills its obligations under international human
rights law to investigate these serious human rights violations, bring their
perpetrators to justice, compensate the victims and halt any deportation
without due process of law of any of the protestors back to Sudan.
Yours Sincerely,
Nadim Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence
Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights
Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies
Hisham Mubarak Law Center
Association for Human Rights Legal Aid
Arabic Network for Human Rights Information
Egyptian Association against Torture
Andalus Institute for Tolerance and Anti-Violence Studies
Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression
Egyptian Center for Housing Rights
Egyptian Center for the Rights of Child
Civil Observatory for Human Rights
