In a landmark decision, a US appeals court ruled that an Egyptian man threatened with deportation had the right to review and challenge secret assurances from Egypt that he would not be tortured on return. Sameh Khouzam, a Coptic Christian who suffered religious persecution in Egypt, fled to the US in 1998, where he was detained based on the Egyptian authorities’ claim that he was wanted in Egypt on a murder charge. Because governments cannot legally deport people to countries where they are at risk of torture, Egypt provided the United States with “diplomatic assurances” that Khouzam would not be subjected to abuse. Human Rights Watch took the lead in filing an amicus curiae brief on behalf of five human rights organizations, arguing that diplomatic assurances from Egypt, a country with a long history of torture, were not an effective safeguard against torture. The brief noted that the US is the only country in the world that prohibits a person from reviewing and challenging diplomatic assurances against torture. Human Rights Watch had documented examples of abuse of people returned to Egypt, Jordan, Russia, Syria, and Uzbekistan, in spite of similar diplomatic assurances that they would be protected. The Khouzam decision could have consequences for dozens of detainees at Guantanamo Bay who would be at risk of torture if returned to their countries of origin.
Read more: https://www.hrw.org/en/category/topic/counterterrorism
