US/Egypt: Obama Should
Highlight Rights at Meeting With Mubarak
18 Aug 2009 02:06:51 GMT Source: Human Rights Watch
(New York) -
President Hosni Mubarak'smeeting with President Obama on August 18, 2009 is an opportunity to call forhuman rights reforms in Egypt, Human Rights Watch said today. Egypt arbitrarilydetains bloggers,
activists and opposition members and convicts them in unfairtrials. It also violates the rights of refugees and migrants, includingshooting migrants trying to cross its borders and arbitrarily
detaining many ofthem. "President Obama needs to convey a clear message thathuman rights in Egypt are a central concern of his administration," said JoeStork, deputy Middle East
director at Human Rights Watch. "Egypt is approachinga time of transition and has the opportunity to make real reforms."Â Mubarak's first trip to Washington in five years
comesafter a colder period in US-Egyptian relations. The US has tried variousapproaches to promote human rights in Egypt, at times more openly critical andat others preferring not to anger the
Egyptians and jeopardize other vitalareas of cooperation. Â In a speechin Cairo on June 4,
2009, Obama set out some general principles of USpolicy toward the Muslim world, telling Egyptians that he has "an unyieldingbelief that all people yearn for certain things: the ability to speak
your mindand have a say in how you are governed; confidence in the rule of law and theequal administration of justice." Â Human Rights Watch said that Mubarak's visit will be acritical
moment for the US to present its stance on human rights violations,especially in light of the fact that Egypt's human rights record has been widelycriticized. Â "President Obama should
call for the release of allpolitical prisoners," said Stork. "He should urge President Mubarak to end theState of Emergency and to respect the rights of migrants."Â Egypt's
28-year-old emergency law allows authorities todetain individuals arbitrarily and to try them in special security courts,which do not meet international fair trial standards. The government renewedthe
Emergency Law (Law No. 162 of 1958) in May 2008 for two years, providing acontinued basis for arbitrary detention and unfair trials, despite repeatedpromises not to do so by Mubarak and other top
officials. A new draftcounterterrorism law, if adopted, will codify several of the extraordinarypowers the emergency law grants to the executive, effectively making permanentwhat had been presented as
temporary measures. Egyptian authorities detain people for expressing theiropinions peacefully. Bloggers have been arrested, detained and harassed bysecurity forces. Egyptian law also
allows imprisonment of journalists forinsulting public officials. Kareem Amer, a blogger whose real name is 'Abd al-Karim Nabil Suleiman, hasbeen in Borg El Arab prison, in Alexandria, since November
7, 2006 for writingabout sectarian tensions in Alexandria and criticizing Mubarak and the Al-Azharreligious institution on his blog. On February 22, 2007, a court sentenced himto four years in prison
for "insulting the president," "spreading informationdisruptive of public order," and "incitement to hate Muslims." Hany Nazeer, another blogger, is being detained
without charge, also in Borg ElArab prison, under the emergency law and is denied visits. State Securityofficers arrested him at his home in Naga Hammadi, Qena, on October 3, 2008.Nazeer had expressed
opinions critical of Christianity and Islam on his blog.Musad Abul Fagr, a novelist and rights defender who had been outspokenlycritical of the violation of the rights of Sinai Bedouin, remains in
prisonunder an emergency law order despite several court orders for his release. OnJuly 17, prison officials transferred him to Borg El Arab prison under the 13themergency law order extending his
detention. Â The Egyptian authorities have arrested a number of seniormembers of the Muslim Brotherhood over the past months and detained them underthe emergency law. One of them,
Abdelmenoim Abulfutouh, is detained in Kasr ElAini hospital under the emergency law and has been charged with membership inan illegal organization. Security forces arrested him on the morning of
June28, along with other senior Muslim Brotherhood members, most of them medicaldoctors. The State Security prosecutor renewed his detention order on August 9.Abulfotouh, secretary-general of the Arab
Union for Medical Doctors, is amember of the brotherhood's executive bureau. His health is said to besuffering in detention, and Egyptian organizations have called for his releaseon humanitarian
grounds. Â The Emergency Law allows the authorities to try civiliansbefore military and State Security Courts, in violation of international law.On July 26, Egypt's public prosecutor
referred the cases of 26 men accused ofplotting attacks on behalf of Hezbollah to a state security court. Â In an earlier case, on April 15, 2008, a militarytribunal convicted Khairat
al-Shatir, the Muslim Brotherhood's deputy supremeguide, the second-highest officer, and 24 other civilians, sentencing al-Shatirto seven years in prison after a trial that did not comply with
internationaldue process standards. Seventeen of his codefendants had already been acquittedby a civilian court in Cairo in January 2007, but police re-arrested themmoments after the verdict. The
following month, Mubarak, in his capacity ascommander-in-chief, transferred their cases to the military tribunal thatultimately convicted them. International human rights law says no one shall
beretried or punished for an offense for which they have been acquitted. With regard to violations of the rights of migrants,Egyptian border guards have shot dead seven migrants since May
as they tried toenter Israel from Egypt and detained scores of others. In its report "Sinai Perils:Risks to Migrants, Refugees
and Asylum Seekers in Egypt and Israel," HumanRights Watch called upon the Egyptian authorities to investigate the fatalshootings and to halt the use of lethal force against border crossers.
Egyptarbitrarily detains refugees and migrants apprehended in the Sinai and triedthem before military tribunals for illegal entry. Egypt denies these refugeesand migrants their right to make asylum
claims to the United Nations HighCommission for Refugees. Â There have been some positive reforms in recent years. In2008, the government passed legislation banning female genital
mutilation, andin 2009 new legislation provided more rights to people suffering mentalillness. On March 9, the Ministry of Interior issued a decree allowing Baha'isand other adherents of
"non-recognized" religions to obtain essentialidentification documents without having to misidentify themselves as Muslims orChristians. Â "As the Egyptian authorities prepare
for parliamentaryelections in 2010 and presidential elections the following year, the focusshould be on improving Egypt's human rights record," said Stork. "Arrestingcritics of the regime
will only produce, yet again, discredited elections."Â
A Rohingya mother from Myanmar attends a medical check-up run by a NGO with her child, in a refugee camp in Cox's Bazaar August 17, 2009. Rohingyas, not recognised as an ...
