Egyptian Initiative
for Personal Rights
Right to Privacy Program
21 May 2006
Statement by EIPR and INTERIGHTS at the 39th Session
of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights
The Egyptian
Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) and the International Center for the
Legal Protection of Human Rights (INTERIGHTS) delivered the following
statement at the 39th ordinary session of the African Commission
on Human and People's Rights, taking place now in Banjul, Gambia until 25
May 2006. The Commission is the African Union's top human rights body and is
in charge of monitoring the implementation by the Union's member states of
the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights. Egypt ratified the African
Charter and it became part of domestic legislation in 1984.
The statement, which
addresses freedom of religion and the state of emergency in Egypt, was
delivered during a hearing by the Commission of a case submitted by the EIPR
and INTERIGHTS against the Egyptian Government regarding the detention of
Islamic scholar Metewalli Ibrahim Metwalli on the basis of his religious
views. Mr. Metwalli was released last month.
"Madam Chairperson, Commissioners,
INTERIGHTS and the Egyptian Initiative for Personal
Rights (EIPR) would like to thank you for accepting our brief statement on
the matter of Metawalli v. The
Arab
Republic of Egypt.
As you may be aware, Mr. Metawalli was released on
April 23, 2006
after nearly three years of administrative detention. He has asked us to
withdraw his case. While complying with Mr. Metawalli's wishes, we would
like to take this opportunity to state that the underlying conditions which
led to Mr. Metawalli's arrest and three year unlawful detention solely on
the basis of the peaceful expression of his religious views remain. Indeed,
we are concerned that Mr. Metwalli represents but one of many such current
and potential victims of the Egyptian State Security apparatus. We would
particularly like to draw your attention to two issues related to Mr.
Metawalli's ordeal that are of particular concern.
Mr. Metawalli is a graduate of the most prominent
Islamic educational establishment in the world,
Al-Azhar University.
There, he studied many aspects of Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) and
Qura'nic sciences, and developed the scholarship that ultimately led to his
arrest under the notorious Egyptian Emergency law, then entering into its 23rd
year of enforcement.
Freedom of religion
Unfortunately, Mr. Metawalli's arrest and detention
for the peaceful expression of his religious views is not unique. The
vaguely worded Article 98(f) of the Penal Code on "contempt of religion,"
under which Mr. Metawalli was originally arrested, grants security agencies
unrestricted power to arrest and detain individuals simply because their
religious views are not to the state's liking. Today, this provision
remains in force and is regularly utilized by State Security to silence any
form of religious dissent. In addition, the Egyptian state continues to
systematically discriminate against its citizens on the basis of their
religious beliefs in violation of the Egyptian constitution as well as its
international human rights obligations.
The government continues to deny many Egyptian
citizens necessary identification documents such as identity cards and birth
certificates if they convert from Islam to another religion, or adhere to a
faith other than the three recognized religions, Islam, Christianity and
Judaism.
Mr. Metawalli was released after three years into
an Egypt that
has seen no marked improvement in its overbroad penal provisions,
discriminatory laws and practices, and denial of basic identity documents to
its citizens based on their religious affiliation.
Emergency Law
Mr. Metawalli's release last month came after no
less than eight final court rulings ordering his release. The Interior
Ministry refused to implement all eight, instead issuing a new
administrative detention order each time a court decision was handed down.
This legal labyrinth is faced by at least 10,000
Egyptians today, according to the government-affiliated National Human
Rights Council. Most of these victims continue to be held without charge or
trial, some of them for over ten years to date. Others have served their
judicial sentences, only to find that they remain in prison, told by the
Interior Ministry that they present a threat to national security. This
parallel legal system, operating without oversight and with apparent freedom
to violate both domestic and international laws, is the result of a 25 year
old state of emergency that was this month renewed for an additional two
years. Since the renewal, the Emergency Law has claimed at least three
hundred additional victims who were arrested over the past month for
peaceful demonstrations calling for judicial independence and political
reform. Only days ago, the Interior Minister announced that any persons
engaged in peaceful demonstrations will be considered guilty of multiple
crimes under Egyptian law and subject to immediate arrest and detention.
The Emergency law makes a mockery of
Egypt's legal
obligations under the African Charter for Human and People's Rights.
Releasing one individual, while laudable, does not change this fact.
Thank you for your attention."
The two legal briefs submitted by the EIPR and
INTERIGHTS on this case to the African Commission in November 2005 and
February 2006 are available, together with their Arabic translation, at the
Campaigns section of the EIPR's website
www.eipr.org
