US Federal Court Rules Promise of No Torture for Deportee Is Subject to Review

In a landmark decision on January 10, a federal court in Pennsylvania blocked the Bush administration's attempt to deport an Egyptian man to Egypt by relying on secret "diplomatic assurances" from Cairo that the man would not be tortured there. The American Civil Liberties Union, in consultation with Human Rights Watch, brought the suit on behalf of Sameh Khouzam, a Coptic Christian who fled religious persecution in Egypt in 1998, only to be informed upon arrival in the US that he was wanted in Egypt on a murder charge, for which the Egyptian authorities have yet to produce sufficient evidence. Human Rights Watch submitted two expert affidavits in the case, documenting the prevalence of torture in Egypt and attesting that, based on Human Rights Watch's extensive research, the United States is the only country that does not provide the opportunity to challenge the reliability of assurances against torture. The court rejected the Bush administration's claim that the executive branch had the authority to deport Khouzam without judicial review of the assurances, noting that this would render the procedures established for seeking protection under the Convention Against Torture "a farce." Khouzam was released from custody on January 15 pending the administration's appeal.