Press release
Cairo:28/8/2003

EOHR Campaign against Torture

A Committee for Amending Legislations with the aim of Combating the Crime of Torture

Within the framework of its Campaign against the crime of torture, the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) held a roundtable entitled: “The Egyptian Legislations: Preventing the crime of torture and punishing the perpetrators”. The roundtable was held on Wednesday 27-8-2003.

EOHR invited a number of lawyers, researchers, human rights experts and some current and former members of the People’s Assembly. The discussions tackled the following topics:

-         Combating torture in the light of the international instruments.

-         The deficiency of domestic legislations as regards preventing the crime of torture and punishing the perpetrators.

-         The reasons behind torture and the potential mechanisms for its elimination.

       Such roundtable is part of a series of discussions to conclude a proposal to amend the legislations relevant to the frequency of the crime of torture in the light of adhering to the international instruments on human rights. The proceedings of the roundtable were managed by Mr. Esam El-Islambolly, a lawyer. The paper of the discussion was submitted by the EOHR Secretary General, Mr. Hafez Abu Seada. A commentary was made on the paper by the Secretary of the Committee of Defending Democracy, Mr. Hussein Abdel Razeq who is a renowned journalist as well. The attendants proposed some recommendations to fight such crime. Such recommendations focused on the legal, legislative, media and political aspects, the most significant of which are:

1-     Abolishing the Emergency Law.

2-     Promoting the autonomy of the judiciary and abolishing all forms of exceptional courts.

3-     Activating the international mechanisms in cooperation with the Committee against Torture (CAT) as regards the punishment of the perpetrators of torture.

4-     Granting the victims the right to file cases before criminal courts by way of direct litigation.

5-     Activating the role of the judiciary in monitoring prisons and detention places.

6-     Affiliating prisons to the Ministry of Justice rather than to the Ministry of Interior.

7-     Re-activating the system of the investigations judge.

8-     Coordinating between the syndicates, human rights organizations, political powers and parties to fight all the practices that violate human rights.

9-     Allowing the civil society organizations concerned to visit prisons and to be informed of the conditions inside prisons.

10- Demanding a capable role to be played by the journalists to expose the crime of torture.

       The roundtable was concluded by agreeing on a recommendation to form a committee to make a bill to amend the prevailing legislations with a view to preventing the crime of torture. This may be fulfilled through various legislative measures, of which is aggravating the penalty of the crime of torture and guaranteeing the punishment of its perpetrators in addition to studying the other recommendations. Such committee will comprise: the EOHR Secretary General, Mr. Hafez Abu-Seada, Mr. Esam El Islambolly, the Secretary of the Committee of Defending Democracy, Mr. Hussein Abdel Razeq, People’s Assembly members and others.