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Concerning allegations of arbitrary arrest and detention:
- Establish as a matter of urgency a public registry of
persons detained in northern Sinai for more than twenty-four hours in
connection with investigations into the bombings in Taba and Ras Shaitan
on October 7, 2004. The registry should include the date of arrest, places
and dates of detention, and dates of transfer to different prison
facilities or investigation offices.
- Promptly release all persons still in detention in
connection with these investigations, unless they have been charged with a
recognizable criminal offense.
- Ensure that all persons in detention are able to exercise
their right to legal counsel, to appeal their detention, and to fair trail
and due process.
- Ensure that arresting authorities immediately record the
arrest of any individual and the legal basis for that arrest, and make
this information readily available to the family of the detained person.
- Ensure that all detainees are held in recognized places of
detention that are accessible to government inspection, independent
monitors, relatives, and defense counsel.
- Ensure that all persons in detention are taken before a
judicial authority no later than twenty-four hours after arrest.
- Ensure that family members have prompt access to
detainees.
- Declare that the government will not seek to extend Law
162/1958 (the Emergency Law) for an additional three years when it expires
in 2006. Meanwhile, immediately suspend application of provisions of Law
162/1958, Law 97/1992, and other laws and directives that do not comply
with Egypt’s obligation under international human rights law to safeguard
the right to liberty and security of persons and the requirement not to
engage in arbitrary arrest or detention.
- Conduct a full and impartial inquiry into allegations of
arbitrary arrest and detention by SSI officials in al-`Arish and northern
Sinai. Make the results of such an inquiry public, including disciplinary
measures taken as a result of the inquiry and the names of those
disciplined.
- Ensure that persons detained arbitrarily and unlawfully in
connection with the investigations into the Taba bombings are able to
access prompt and fair compensation.
Concerning allegations of torture and ill-treatment
- Issue and publicize widely a directive from the President
of the Republic stating clearly that acts of torture and ill-treatment by
law enforcement or prison officials will not be tolerated, and that
reports of torture and ill-treatment will be promptly and thoroughly
investigated.
- Direct the Office of the Prosecutor General to fulfill its
responsibility under Egyptian law to investigate in a thorough, impartial,
and timely manner all torture allegations against law enforcement
officials. Ensure the independence of the Prosecutor General’s office from
political interference and mandate prosecutors to conduct unannounced
inspections of all places of detention, speaking to inmates in conditions
of privacy, and taking complaints.
- Make public the results of the Prosecutor General’s
investigation into allegations of torture and ill-treatment by SSI
officers and interrogators against persons detained in connection with the
investigations into the Taba area attacks of October 7, 2004, including disciplinary measures taken as a result of the inquiry and the names of those disciplined.
- Conduct promptly independent forensic medical examinations
of detainees who allege that they have been subject to torture or
ill-treatment.
- Allow access for Egyptian and international human rights
monitors to places of detention, and the opportunity to conduct
confidential discussions with detainees.
- Amend Article 126 of the Penal Code to make the definition
of torture consistent with Article 1 of the Convention against Torture and
Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Convention
against Torture).
- Amend Penal Code Article 129, on the use of cruelty by
officials, and Article 280, on illegal detention, to make the penalties
commensurate with the seriousness of the offenses, as felonies rather than
misdemeanors.
- Ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against
Torture, which allows independent international experts to conduct regular
visits to places of detention within the territory of state parties, to
assess the conditions of detention and to make recommendations for improvements.
- Implement the general recommendations made by the
Committee against Torture in May 2002 and by the U.N. Special Rapporteur
on Torture in 2003, to establish a fully independent complaints mechanism
for persons held in custody.
- Ensure that persons subjected to torture or ill-treatment
in violation of Egyptian and international law are able to access prompt
and fair compensation.
- Schedule an impartial and thorough public inquiry,
including a parliamentary fact-finding committee, to look into allegations
of illegal and arbitrary detention, and the use of torture and
ill-treatment, in connection with investigations into the Taba bombings of
October 7, 2004, and require the participation of Minister of Interior
al-`Adli.
- Call upon the government to respect and comply fully with
the principles and obligations with respect to illegal detention and
torture as laid down in the ICCPR, the Convention against Torture and
Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Convention
against Torture), the Arab Charter on Human Rights, and the Egyptian
Constitution.
- Insist that the government take concrete and effective
legal and policy steps to end the practices of arbitrary detention and
torture.
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Raise with the government of Egypt in all official meetings and
at the highest level concerns over the treatment of suspects arrested for
security-related offenses. Call on the Egyptian government to ensure that this
treatment conforms to international human rights standards.
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Closely monitor any military, security, and counter-terrorism
assistance to the Egyptian government to ensure that security and intelligence
forces strictly adhere to international human rights standards.
-
Provide human rights training as an integral component of
capacity building programs involving the police and security agencies, with a
component dedicated to stopping the use of torture and other cruel, inhuman,
and degrading treatment for purposes of interrogation or punishment.
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Ensure that aid given includes assistance for the development and
support of local human rights groups with an independent monitoring capacity.
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Do not extradite or arrange the rendition to Egypt of persons suspected of security offenses.
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