CAIRO,
18 DECEMBER 2006
A number of jurists,
politicians and representatives of the civil community organizations and of
the different political parties called, in a national unanimity, upon
denouncing all forms of violence and terrorism and upon adopting new
policies in dealing with the issues of general rights and freedoms of the
civilians, instead of talking about more restrictions put down by the
authority.
The participants in Maat
Center's workshop about ' protecting rights and freedoms between the
Emergency Law and Terrorism Combating Law', expressed, in the conclusion of
the Center's program ' Freedom For All', their anxiety towards the policies
of the current government which wants to pass a new law for combating
terrorism without a serious study of the effects of activating the Emergency
Law for more than 26 years on general rights and freedoms in Egypt , under
the umbrella of group of laws whose interest is only to establish the
security values and enhance the role of the security institution at the
expense of other state institutions and of respecting rights and freedoms,
and this leads to retreating the index of democracy and development and the
going up of the index of corruption. This is one of the main reasons behind
the breaking out of terrorism that becomes very difficult to identify,
define or limit the crimes committed in its context, under the universal and
local neglecting of its real reasons.
This was included in the
speech of the Center's manager, Mr. Ayman Okail, which he delivered in the
opening session of the workshop, after he reviewed the achievements of the
Center during a whole year, through its campaign that carries the motto
"Freedom for All". In this campaign, the Center was able to offer the
possible help for those whose rights are violated, especially the political
detainees. In the context of this campaign, the center has received more
than 250 cases of the detainees' families, through which the Center realized
the reality oh their situations under the absence of the institutional role
of the state towards the suffering of these sinless people.
At the ending of the opening
speech delivered by Mr. Ayman Okail, he declared that the aim behind the
framework is to discuss the question of the extent of the Egyptian
community's need for new law for terrorism and of the identity of the actual
guarantees that must be included in this law if its passing is an
accomplished fact to gain the legal legitimacy.
Dr. Saad El Deen Ibrahem, the
manager of Ibn Khaldon Center for Developmental Studies, begins his speech
by assuring that struggle is the only way to obtain rights and freedoms. He
added that the base in all the constitutions is to restrict the authorities
of the governor, and this is lacking in the Egyptian constitution since
after 1923constitution and 1954-draft constitution that leaves the
practicing of rights and freedoms to law, then we come to see the 1971
constitution as merciful on the outward, but torture on the inward.
During his speech about the
comparison between the situation of freedom in Egypt and in other Arab and
foreign countries, Dr. Mahmoud Abdel Zaher, the professor of political
sciences and the security expert, called, through the work paper he
presented, for activating the call of the judicial organizations and parties
upon popular participation in studying the effect of the Emergency Law on
the Egyptian community, as this is considered a national necessity to
overtake any legislative crises. He also assured the importance of carrying
out President Husni Mubarak's electoral program as regards putting an end to
the emergency case, passing a new law for combating terrorism and ensuring
the existence of sound guarantees that respect general rights and freedoms
to ensure the continuation of the comprehensive political reform operation
in Egypt and all Arab countries.
Dr. Abdel Zaher concluded his
speech asserting that Britain and Israel are two countries without written
constitution up until now, yet, there are very big differences between them
in the constitutional level. While Britain admits the principle of
constitutional tradition, we find that Israel, which is established
according to individual resolution, admits the legitimacy of the torturing
principle as it established an emergency law no. 4 year 1984 which includes
the same policy and the ' how' of applying it on the enemies, the members of
the Palestinian resistance, but as for the Israeli colonist, we find that it
enables him to practice his rights in a way better than that of Egypt
nowadays.
Mrs. Saly Samy, the scholar
in the International Policy Magazine, presented an offer in which she called
upon those who are concerned with putting down laws to put a limited and
explicit definition of the concept of terrorism and to limit its crimes
before raising the draft law for combating terrorism before the parliament.
She also drew attentions to the fact that it is very dangerous to have the
law void of defining, condemning and combating the state terrorism as an
official way against basic human rights. She as well demanded that there
must be a national project for human rights in Egypt that attempts to put an
end to legal, political and cultural illiteracy as a base of wider thinking
to propagate the culture of human rights.
D. Ahmed Thabet, the professor
of political sciences, condemned, through his work paper entitled '
Reforming the criminal justice, a third option' Muslim Brotherhood group
which is the other face of the government, drawing attentions to the fact
that the religious references adopted by such groups are always completely
far away from the modern civil concepts adopted by the state with all its
political visions. He also added that Muslim Brotherhood group practices a
clear distinction against the Egyptian community and classifies the people
on the basis of religion and that it carries out , with its own slogans ,
religious recommendations that opposes the concept of citizenship which is
supported and adopted by all political visions. In addition, Muslim
Brotherhood group go far away, with its doubtful classifications, to the
extent that it violates women's rights as it sees that the role of the women
in the political life does not exceed participating in demonstrations, as it
is clear from the declining number of the women nominated in the general
elections during the last years on the lists of Muslim Brotherhood group.
The Counsel, Maged El Sherbiny,
the member of the Shura Council and the Secretariat-general of the National
Party, protested against the accusations directed to the Party regarding its
inability of harmony and of reaching a balance state with the objection and
other political parties concerning important issues such as the issue of
freedom. He added" We are not in the situation of reaction; we are the first
t use the term 'citizenship' in 2003. The National Council for Human Rights
has departed from the Party, while the Party issues most of the recent
legislations, which are considered continuation of reform march; such as
canceling the military resolutions, adjusting the political parties law and
canceling detention in publishing issues"
Mr. Maged added about the
features of the new draft law for combating terrorism that there are not any
obscurities about this law; the evidence is that he comes here due to Maat
Center's invitation for the National Democratic Party and due to the care of
the Secretary General of the Party, Mr.Safwat El Sherif to participate with
all the national forces in discussing the important issues of our native
home, among of which is the issue of terrorism, and for this reason he
accepted the invitation and participated with the Center in the workshop.
Mr. Maged presented the
features of the new bill in certain points in which he declared that the
committee that was charged with preparing the bill was formed according to a
resolution of the Prime Minister, its number is 477 of year 2006, and it is
headed by Dr. Mofeed Shehab along with other representatives of the
Ministries of Justice, Defense, Interior and The Ministry of Legal Affairs
along with group of counsels and specialized university professors. He added
that this committee has never passed up till now any vague issues concerning
this law, except that the general frame of this committee has the following
axes:
-
Studying all the comparative rules in all the states of the world to be
under consideration while forming the law
-
Resorting to all the international and legal agreements that
Egypt has signed in the
context of the United States, Arab League, African Union and the
organization of Islamic Conference.
In the context of his speech
about whether the new terrorism law will affect the activation of the
Emergency Law, Mr. Maged El Sherbiny noted that the new law will not cancel
the Emergency Law which will be still existing to confront crises, but the
Emergency Law will stop working; that is to say that the law for combating
terrorism will work in stead of the continuation of the Emergency Law.
He added that the task of the
new law is not just to drive off harm like most of the recent law, but it
will further stop any harm or damage before occurring, and that will lead to
drying out terrorism sources. He concluded his speech by mentioning what
came in the President's program regarding constitutional reforms assuring
that there is not any violation in the third of the constitution regarding
the guarantee of respecting rights and freedoms and that part of the
constitutional reforms will include the authorities entitled to the
president. He as well assured that the party is ready to receive all
suggestions from all national forces and civil community organizations to
convey them to the law makers and that the motive behind the party's
participation in the workshop is to share all the national forces to reach
balanced recommendations about rights, freedoms and combating terrorism
which are accepted by all.
Mr. Sobhy Saleh, member of
People's Assembly, presented a work paper through which he expressed his
objection to the continuing activating the Emergency Law and putting down a
new terrorism law, asserting the inevitable necessity of a comprehensive
constitutional reform as what happened in other Arab countries that precede
Egypt in political reform. He as well asserted the importance of respecting
the citizen.
Mr. Mohammed Abdullah Khalil,
the lawyer and judicial activist, considered, in his work paper entitled
'Necessary principles and guarantees to limit or restrict human rights on
the light of the international standards', the guarantees that must be
available in the democratic community that cares about protecting the
individual rights against any illegal, arbitrary or discriminational
limitations or restrictions. He put upon the legislative body, represented
in the People's Assembly and its majority that belong to the National Party,
the responsibility of forming and passing laws that violate the
international charters signed by Egypt , as it is clear when the majority of
the National Party accepted to extend the activation of the Emergency Law
for two coming years and thus to extend bringing its innocent victims before
trials in front of extraordinary judgment which disrepute Egypt and its
history in one form or the other.
Dr. Ayman Abdel Aziz Salamah,
the professor of international law, demanded in his work paper to consider
legal standards while detaining the individuals in case of emergency, the
most important of which is to mention the reasons and places of detention
according to the provisions of the law. He as well called upon activating
the supervision on jails to inspect the detainees' situations and to tell
them the reasons of their detention and to guarantee that they are in
contact with their lawyers and guarantee good treatment away from torturing,
individual detention and bad interrogation ways and guarantee human
circumstances of detention that ends at immediate and fair trials before the
normal judges.
Khaled Ali, the lawyer at
Hesham Mubarak's Law Center, criticized, in his work paper entitled '
Emergency case and the law of combating terrorism', the absence of limited
and clear sanctions for the deeds that are subject to the Emergency Law, as
the aim of the Emergency Law is flexibility and acceleration in punishment
measures without adhering to any constitutional rules of protecting rights,
freedoms and private ownership. He also pointed out that the bill of
combating terrorism, which offered, now by the system does not aim at
putting down sanction provisions, but aims at giving wider authorities to
the general prosecution after they were restricted to the president or
whomever he authorized.
Khalid Ali concluded his
speech asserting that what we own of normal legislative arsenal, sanctions,
measures, weapons and ammunition...Etc. are quite enough to protect the
society and guarantee its security and safety.
Mr. Ayman Okail, Maat
Center's management, indicated that the new law for combating terrorism must
necessarily respect a number of guarantees, if the parliament agrees on it,
as it must not ignore a number of fundamental freedoms' issues and the issue
of the detainees; the victims of the Emergency Law and who are not given the
chance to stand before their normal judges and thus they must be
compensated.
He also demanded that the new
law must put a definite definition of terrorism, limit its crimes according
to a clear formation that would not contrast the Egyptian constitution and
the international charters signed by the state and specify the role of each
authority to put an end to terrorism so as to apply the principle of
separating between authorities.
Mr. Ayman also declared that
the Center adopts training and qualifying programs for the lawyers to defend
the detainees' issues, to spread the spirit of voluntary work and propagate
the culture of human rights and serving the community, pointing out that the
coming plan of the Center shall include lawyers from upper and Mediterranean
Sea governorates during the coming years, God
Willing. God is the Lord of
Success;
THE
RECOMMENDATIONS OF MAAT CENTER'S WORKSHOP AT THE END OF 'FREEDOM FOR ALL '
PROGRAM ABOUT 'RESPECTING RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS BETWEEN THE EMERGENCY LAW AND
THE LAW FOR COMBATING TERRORISM'
We, the participants in this
workshop, after discussions and deliberations about the issues of general
freedoms and rights and exceptional law, deliver our thoughts and theses to
law makers and the parliament as the body authorized to carry out the
Egyptian people's hopes in an effective political life that serves and
appreciates the Arab, territorial and universal weight of the nation's
interests,
Reach what would be an
agreement on the necessity of working to protect general rights and freedoms
and of ending the executive authority's monopolizing of regulating the
issues of freedoms and democratic practices.
So, we declare:
We are against the
continuation of declaring the emergency case and against issuing a new law
for combating terrorism that has the same features of the emergency case
permanently or the features of the unconstitutional terrorism law no. 97 of
year92, but if the new law for combating terrorism is coming inevitably
according to the official declarations, so there is no legitimacy without
the following guarantees:
-
Putting a definite definition of terrorism that does not contrast any
provisions of the Egyptian constitution and the international charters
regarding protecting general freedoms and rights, freedom of expression and
opinion , demonstrating and gathering and also respecting the democratic
principles; the principle of the independence of authorities and the
sovereignty of the law.
-
Limiting and restricting the terrorism crimes according to an explicit
formation that agrees with the principle of generalizing law.
-
Assuring the guarantee that every citizen has the right to stand before his
normal judge and preventing referring to any of the forms of the
extraordinary judgment.
-
Stipulating clearly the severe sanctions on the torturing committed by the
men of public authority.
-
Imposing clear sanctions in case of violating the guarantees mentioned in
the provisions of this law, even if one of the men of public authority
committed the violation.
-
Until
the law for combating terrorism is issued, or the Emergency Law is
cancelled, all the state authorities must apply what mentioned in the
provisions of the Emergency Law and must respect the guarantees in it.
Before any thing, we demanded:
-To allow all political
national forces, without exception, to participate in discussing the
suggestions of the bills of combating terrorism before it is issued by the
People's Assembly.
- To accelerate releasing all
the political detainees who were detained according to detention rules which
violate the provisions of the constitution and the law, and to force the
system to apologize officially for them and to guarantee that they would
obtain the appropriate compensation.
The Speakers
|
The Name |
The Body |
|
Mr. Ayman Okail
|
The manager of Maat Center
for Judicial and Constitutional Studies |
|
Dr. Saad El Deeen Ibrahem
|
The manager of Ibn Khaldon
Center for Developmental Studies |
|
Dr. Ayman Salamah
|
The Professor of General
International Law |
|
Mrs. Saly Samy
|
The scholar in the
International Policy Magazine and the manager of the programs of Arab
Network for Human Rights' Information |
|
Dr. Mohamed Abdel Zaher |
The professor of political
sciences and history And The security strategic expert |
|
Dr. Atef Labib El Nagmy
|
Lawyer And the head of the
Arab Defense Association |
|
Mr. Sobhy Saleh
|
Member of the People's
Assembly And Of the bar association |
|
Dr. Ahmed Thabet
|
The Professor of political
sciences and the manager of Ibn Roshd Center for Development and Human
Rights |
|
Mr. Gamal Adbel Aziz
|
Lawyer and the Manager of
Arab Network for Human Rights' Information |
|
Mr. Khaled Ali
|
Lawyer in Hesham Mubarak
Law Center |
|
Mohamed Abdullah Khalil
|
Lawyer and judicial
activist. |
The
Participants in the Workshop
|
Mr. Maged Mahmoud
|
Member of the People's
Assembly and of the Secretariat-general of the Party |
|
Mr. Mohammed Zarea
|
The Arab Organization
|
|
Mr. Essam Shehah
|
'El Wafd' Party
|
|
Mr. Ali Hassan Sebaq
|
Bar association
|
|
Mr. Salah El Deen El
Soyofy |
A journalist |
|
Mr. Mohamed Hussen Shalaby
|
The Association of Legal
Assistance for Constitutional Rights- El Mansourah |
|
Mrs. Wafaa Hanafy Sahab
|
Lawyer in the Court of
Appeal |
|
Mr. Hamdy Abdel Aziz
|
' Sawasyah' Center
|
|
Mr. Al Amir Gad El Krim
|
The Head of the Egyptian
Center for Human Rights |
|
Mr. Ahmed Kamel
|
' El Wefaq' Party
|
|
Mr. Mustsfs Madbouly |
' El Wefaq' Party
|
|
Mr. Tarek Mohammed Ahmed
|
' Misr El Fatah ' Party
|
|
Mr. Maged Soror
|
One World Institution
|
|
Mr. Ashraf Hassan Hamed
|
Employee in Shura Council
|
|
Mrs. Huda El Badry
|
The Egyptian Union
Organization for Human Rights |
|
Mrs. Rasha Ahmed Mahmoud
|
' El Ahrar' Party
|
|
Mr. Mohammed Samir Mousa
|
The Manager of One World's
developmental programs |
|
Mr. Ahmed Mohyee El Deen
Hamed |
Human Development
Association |
|
Mrs. Nesreen Askar
|
' El Wafd ' Party
|
|
Mr. Mohamed Farid Zakarya
|
' El Ahrar' Party , member
of Shura Council |
|
Mr. Alaa Abdel Latif
Mansour |
The 'signed' of the
speakers of Muslim Brotherhood |
|
Mr. Maged Mounir Malak
|
' Misr El Fatah' Party
|
|
Mrs. Inas Salim
|
The Manager of Legal
Assistance Unit In Maat Center for judicial and Constitutional Studies |
