Press Release - May 14th 2005

Egypt: Let's Put an End to the Epoch of Exception

 

Egyptian organizations signatories to the present communiqué call upon the Egyptian authorities and members of the Peoples Assembly to put an end to the exceptional epoch of emergency Egypt has been undergoing over an uninterrupted 27-year period and to abstain from renewing the state of emergency which will, as of this 31 May, no longer be in force. This should be done even if the state has not yet set another legislation to counter terrorism and which will be based on an integration between the exceptional powers exercised by the executive authority under the emergency law and the infamous amendments introduced to the Penal Code and criminal procedures, under the pretense of anti-terrorism, by virtue of law #97 of the year 1992.

The Egyptian organizations assert their absolute refusal to use the horrifying term "terrorism", be it to legitimize the renewal of the emergency law once again or to pass a new anti-terrorism law that changes the current temporary state of emergency – theoretically at least – into a permanent one.

The Organizations accentuate that the immutability of the state of emergency for as long as it has comes contradictory to the rules of international law which have allowed for the imposition of the state of exception for the purpose of addressing a sudden peril identified to be a state of war, threat thereof or natural disaster. Moreover, maintenance of the state of exception under the pretense of combating terrorism has for long lacked objectivity, especially after the hazards of terrorist activities have, to a great extent, subsided and after terrorism-active groups have seriously reconsidered and scrutinized the tenets of belief on which they have based their atrocities.

The Egyptian organizations once again reaffirm that the exigencies of countering the phenomena of terrorism or even socio-political violence need not be contradictory with those of protecting human rights and that addressing such phenomena will not be made viable by means of enforcing strict security measures that pay no consideration to human rights. Rather, addressing the phenomena primarily requires policy adjustments that identify objectively problems of political, cultural, economic and social nature leading thereto. Accordingly, aversion of the hazards of terrorism and acts of violence remain subject to the existence of a democratic climate that ensures real opportunities for expression and exchange of opinion and thoughts freely and expands the scope for actual community participation in policy-making.

The signatory organizations warn that tenacious insistence on the state of exception, whether by holding on to the emergency or anti-terrorism laws, furnishes the ground for violence and terrorism to grow; particularly, when taking into consideration that article 179, interpolated into the constitution the preceding year, has paved the way to granting police forces unfettered power. This has been the case by means of such exceptional powers granted to the executive authority and its security agencies by virtue of which constitutional guarantees secured under articles 41, 44 and 45 of the constitution and which protect the rights of citizens to liberty and to security of person and forbid breaking into and searching their homes, monitoring their correspondences and tabbing their phones without prior access to a judicial warrant have been waived. Article 179 has also allowed the president of the republic, in his capacity as president of the executive authority, to deprive suspects in and indictees of terrorism cases from standing before their rightful judge and to refer them to exceptional courts, including military tribunals, where they will lack many legal and procedural guarantees, absence of which will greatly jeopardize the standards of a fair trial. A matter that adds additional dangers when taking into heed the nature of the harsh punishments that could be inflicted upon indictees in such cases and which can go as far as capital punishment. Moreover, a matter that adds additional dangers when bearing in mind the definition of the term "terrorism" approved by virtue of the amendments to law #97 of the year 1992 on anti-terrorism, which can, at any point in time, be construed in such a manner so as to torment political opponents and those with conflicting opinions.

 
The amendments have been previously met by numerous criticisms on part of the United Nations treaty bodies which, on many occasions, have expressed their concern towards the employment of such amendments in addressing all forms of expression, as well as towards the deprivation, implied therein, of suspects in terrorism cases from the same legal and procedural guarantees entitled to others during the processes of their arrest and interrogation. A matter that has particularly been associated with the increasing complaints from acts of torture practiced in the absence of such guarantees.

The Egyptian organizations refer to the employment of the emergency law and the amendments to the anti-terrorism law which have, on many occasions, been preserved by the authorities in addressing the freedoms of expression and peaceful association.

Furthermore, the Organizations allude to the fact that article 179 of the constitution, which constitutes a base for protecting the terrorism law from the appeal against its constitutionality, has been fiercely criticized by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Terrorism and Human Rights for the violations therein to the international obligations incurred by the state as per its ratification of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

In addition, the exceptional powers enjoyed by the executive authority by virtue of the emergency law, and which it intends to cleave to in its additional anti-terrorism law, have, in turn, been a wide platform for criticism by various United Nations treaty bodies, in particular the Human Rights Committee and the Committee on Torture.

The Egyptian organizations signatories to the present communiqué warn that maintaining such powers, whether by renewing the state of emergency or by issuing a new anti-terrorism law, will permanently put an end to what legal state elements remain. Twenty seven uninterrupted years of a state of exception have lead to the gradual abrasion of the legal foundations of the state as a result of the exceptional powers under the command of the executive authority and which are subject to neither parliamentary nor legal supervision; moreover, as a result of increasingly attempting to usurp the natural judicial jurisdiction, disposes its competencies for the benefit of exceptional courts and negate the sense behind judicial rulings, including those issued by exceptional emergency courts. A matter that has allowed security agencies to commit flagrant violations to human rights, including those rights pronounced non detrimental by the International Law and human rights conventions, even under exceptional states of emergency, in particular those rights related to the right to life, right to body integrity and right to protection against torture.

The Organizations also warn that persistence of the state to keep secret the new draft anti-terrorism law, although the state drafting committee has affirmed its completion several months back and despite the repeated state promises to forward the draft law to civil society institutions for discussion and comments, confirms that the fears of the rights organizations of the new draft law not including the minimum guarantees necessary for the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms are in place. A matter supporting the signatory organizations' refusal of the new law and increasing their determination to defend against it by all peaceful means.

As such, the Egyptian organizations call, in this context, for the unity and coordination of the efforts of the various forces and movements aspiring for democracy and enhancement of human rights to put an end to the epoch of emergency and to prevent the change of the exceptional state of emergency into a permanent one under the pretense of combating terrorism.

United Nations bodies concerned with human rights as well as international organizations further call for exploring relevant procedures to stimulate Egyptian authorities to permanently terminate the epoch of emergency and seriously review the various legislations opposing human rights, including law #97 of the year 1992 on anti-terrorism.

Organizations signatories to the communiqué

1) Group for Developing Democracy (GDD)

2) Association for Human Rights Legal Aid (AHRLA)

3) Egyptian Association for Community Participation Enhancement (EACPE)

4) Human Rights Association for the Assistance of Prisoners (HRAAP)

5) Center for Trade Union and Workers' Services (CTUWS)

6) Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI)

7) New Women Foundation (NWF)

8) Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR)

9) Land Center for Human Rights (LCHR)

10) Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS)

11) El Nadim Center for the Psychological Management and Rehabilitation of

Victims of Violence

12) Andalus Institute for Tolerance and Anti-Violence Studies (AITAS)

13) Hisham Mubarak Law Center (HMLA)

14) Arab Penal Reform Organization (APRO)