Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights
News Update- 25 May 2008

African Commission Holds Final Hearings
on Sexual Assault and Death Penalty Cases  

The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights last week heard the final oral arguments on two high-profile lawsuits filed against the Egyptian government. One of the cases concerns the government's failure to prevent and prosecute those responsible for the sexual assault on women during an opposition rally in 2005, while the other challenges the imposition of the death penalty by an emergency court against three men in relation to the Taba bombings of 2004.  The hearings took place during the Commission's biannual session which was held in the Kingdom of Swaziland from 7 to 22 May.

Complainants in both cases were represented by the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, in partnership with London-based Interights, the International Center for the Legal Protection of Human Rights. A delegation from the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs presented the government's defense arguments at the hearings. The Commission is expected to adopt final decisions on both cases at its next session in November 2008.

Background

The first case (no. 323/2006) concerns the sexual assault on female journalists and demonstrators during a political rally by the opposition movement Kefaya on 25 May 2005. The police did not intervene to protect the women who were targeted with sexual violence and the Public Prosecutor later decided to suspend the investigations into the crime based on "the inability to identify the perpetrators". Remedies requested by the four applicants in the case include reopening the investigation into the assaults, prosecution and punishment of the perpetrators and ordering the government to pay financial compensation to the victims.

The second case (334/2006) was filed on behalf of Mohamed Gayez Sabbah, Ossama Abdel-Ghany Al-Nakhlawy and Mohamed Younis Abu-Gareer, who were sentenced to death on 30 November 2006 by an emergency state security court for their alleged involvement in the planning and execution of the 2004 terrorist bombings in Taba and Noeuiba'. The case cites several violations committed by the Egyptian government against the three men, including torture in detention, failure to meet fair trial standards and the absence of a right of appeal from a sentence of death. In December 2006, the African Commission adopted provisional measures requesting President Hosni Mubarak to stay the execution of the three men pending the Commission's decision on the complaint.

The African Commission is the principal human rights organ of the African Union (AU). Created by the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, the Commission is mandated with the promotion and protection of human rights in the AU's 53 member states, including Egypt. The Egyptian government ratified the African Charter by Presidential Decree no. 77 of 1984, thereby accepting to be bound by its provisions and making them part of its national legislation.