>> SOMETHING ROTTEN IN BELGIUM...
Trial torments Belgian town
By Emma Jane Kirby
BBC correspondent in Arlon, Belgium
Police and media surround the suspect when he appears
Marc Dutroux is Belgium's public enemy number one.
The newspapers describe him as Belgium's most hated man.
His face is etched onto the Belgian psyche and although everybody here would rather forget about him, that is absolutely impossible at the moment.
The little town of Arlon is flooded with journalists - at least 200 different television companies are here beaming Belgium's shame across the world.
Turned away
Many hotels here have refused to take anybody associated with Marc Dutroux.
People will want to know why he was allowed out of prison after serving just three years of a 13-year sentence for raping five young children
His lawyers are having to sleep at the military barracks because no one will put them up.
Emotions are running so high here that even restaurants - which are benefiting from increased trade with so many media crews in town - are giving away a lot of the money they raise to charities connected to the families of the victims.
There is a huge amount of security, including for Mr Dutroux himself, who is making his court appearance in a bullet-proof vest.
Mr Dutroux could begin to give his evidence on Wednesday, and he and his co-defendants - which include his now ex-wife Michelle Martin - will stand behind a special bullet-proof glass cage.
Horrific detail
Security helicopters are constantly buzzing overhead.
There is not an entrance or exit from this court not covered by policemen and camera crews hoping to catch a glimpse of the defendants as they make their way back to prison.
Thousands of Belgians took to the streets in protest at delays
The whole day has been taken up with swearing in the jury - the 180 people brought to court first thing on Monday morning have now been whittled down to 12 jurors and 12 stand-ins.
But many people made excuses when asked to stand, saying they would be simply too upset and too sensitive to listen to the horrific details of these alleged crimes.
They did not want to have to spend the next four months listening to more and more details of a case that the whole country would like to put behind it.
Many questions
The big question among many is why this case took so long to come to trial.
There have been so many police blunders - including missing clues throughout this whole case.
Police failed to find two girls held in a house
We know for example that Mr Dutroux was building a dungeon, but police did not act on the tip-offs they received.
They did go to his house while two eight-year-old girls were being kept in the dungeon but could not find them.
We now know the girls starved to death.
Mr Dutroux is a convicted child rapist and people will also want to know why he was allowed out of prison after serving just three years of a 13-year sentence for raping five young children.
The families too will want answers to some of these questions.
Mr Dutroux's lawyers have presented a seven-page dossier supporting his claims to be part of a wider paedophile mafia which he alleges included senior politicians and businessmen.
But the prosecution begins first and they have started to read out the charges of rape, abduction and murder against him.
There is a lot to get through.
It will be a gruelling three to four months for the families, some of whom were already in tears on the first day of their ordeal.
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Lessons of Dutroux affair still to be learnt
Convicted child rapist Marc Dutroux has gone on trial in Belgium on charges of kidnapping and abusing six young girls in the 1990s and murdering four of them.
The case has spurred Switzerland and other European nations to step up the fight against paedophile crime.
Dutroux - who admits he abducted and imprisoned girls but denies murdering them - was arrested in 1996.
Eight years on hundreds of journalists have descended on the town of Arlon to report on his trial.
Street protests
The case caused public outcry after revelations of inept police work and led to huge demonstrations in Belgium.
Protests of a similar nature also took place elsewhere in Europe. In 2002 thousands of protesters took to the streets of Switzerland to demand more action to protect children from sexual abuse.
In 2001 a special unit was created within the Federal Police Office to deal with paedophile crime and coordinate investigations between cantons and with other countries.
But protesters argued that the unit should be supplemented by a formal nationwide cybercrime office, which was launched early last year.
Three cantons - Geneva, Vaud and Bern - have also set up local cybercrime offices to investigate paedophile activities on the internet.
Tackling crime
Some observers, however, say the Swiss authorities could do more to tackle paedophile crime.
"There has been no major improvement in the fight against paedophilia on the internet since the Dutroux affair," argues Pascal Seeger, the former head of canton Geneva's cybercrime unit.
Seeger, who left the police to work for the anti-paedophile non-governmental organisation, Action Innocence, told swissinfo not enough resources were available to fight sexual abuse of children.
"The laws don't give us enough latitude to arrest paedophiles, nor to punish them," he said.
He also expressed concern that the Swiss government's planned budget cuts would make it more difficult to track down paedophiles on a systematic basis.
But Philippe Kronig, who heads up the Swiss Coordination Unit for Cybercrime Control, disagrees with this assessment.
"We are able to handle the same workload that other countries deal with," he said.
Monitoring websites
Kronig's eight-strong team monitors suspicious websites by copying their contents on to their own systems. They then check them for links or references to Switzerland and determine whether their authors could be legally prosecuted.
But the unit is not supported across the country. Canton Zurich has declined to contribute financially, arguing that the bureau is too small to make a difference.
Critics also warn that any nationally-coordinated action is hindered by Switzerland's federal structure, which leaves responsibility for dealing with paedophile crime to individual cantons.
"We can only take over some tasks if the cantons specifically ask for them," said federal police spokesman, Guido Balmer.
"But most of them prefer to rely on their resources and knowledge."
Seeger argues that the issue is more complex and points out that the cantons and federal authorities cannot always decide who is ultimately responsible.
"It's unfortunate because the French and the Germans have managed to overcome the jurisdiction problem and achieved good results," he told swissinfo.
Positive results
Coordinated police operations over the past two years have led to investigations into more than 1,000 suspected child pornographers in Switzerland - including local officials, civil servants and teachers.
Last month the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Directors of Public Education produced a blacklist of suspected paedophile teachers in a bid to prevent anyone convicted from finding new employment by moving to a school in a different canton.
Gabriela Fuchs, the conference's spokeswoman, said the aim of the list was not to name people specifically.
"We don't give out names," she told swissinfo. "The cantons will only get a 'yes' or 'no' answer if someone is blacklisted."
The Catholic Church has also begun to deal with paedophile priests within its ranks, and says it is prepared to hand offenders over to the courts.
"If they are found guilty, they will have to go to prison like everybody else," said Marc Aellen, spokesman for the Swiss Bishops Conference.
swissinfo, Scott Capper
Copyright ? Swissinfo / Neue Z?rcher Zeitung AG
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Trial Opens Against 'Monster of Marcinelle'
March 1, 2004
by Danielle Russo
Arlon, Belgium (MND NEWSWIRE) - Almost eight years after a string of sex crimes played out in a small city in Belgium, the trial against accused rapist and killer Marc Dutroux began in the Arlon trial court this morning.
Dutroux, a 47 year old electrician also known as 'the monster of Marcinelle', is the center of one of the most chilling tales of pedophilia of modern times. He is alleged of kidnapping beating, raping, and stowing six young girls in a dark chamber underneath his home. Four of these girls died. Dutroux admits to having abducted them but denies any hand in their murder.
Paradoxically, when the 'monster' was captured in August 1996, Belgium had done away with the death penalty a few months earlier. Now, there are some who would like to see it reinstated for this case, even though some say that Dutroux was merely one link in a chain of criminals including local businesspeople, politicians, and members of the justice system.
Aside from Dutroux, three others are also on trial, including his ex-wife.
The trial is expected to last at least a few months, with 450 witnesses scheduled to be heard. In the small city of Arlon, more than 300 agents have been stationed around the courthouse for security purposes.
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Belgian justice on trial with Dutroux
By Chris Morris
BBC Europe correspondent
It has taken eight years for Belgium's most hated man to come to trial.
Dutroux says he was part of a wider conspiracy
But Marc Dutroux is finally due in court on Monday charged with the abduction, rape and murder of young girls in a case whose gruesome detail shocked the country and the world.
Long-standing allegations of a cover-up and charges of police incompetence led to mass protests against Belgium's archaic judicial system. But many fear the trial will still leave many questions unanswered.
Back in 1996, Mr Dutroux led police to the bodies of four young girls buried underground. Two eight-year-olds had starved to death in captivity. Two other girls were rescued from Mr Dutroux's cellar. One of them had been abused for 80 days.
What has made it worse are claims of a broad conspiracy and a paedophile network at the heart of the Belgian establishment.
I think the ordinary Belgian doesn't understand why it had to take eight years to judge a man whose crimes are so horrific
Mark Eeckhaut
De Standard newspaper
Belgian kidnap victim tells her story
Ordinary Belgians were and have remained stunned. Mark Eeckhaut from De Standard newspaper said: "The word that comes to mind is monster.
"I think the ordinary Belgian doesn't understand why it had to take eight years to judge a man whose crimes are so horrific, so I think 99% of Belgians maybe think the process is a waste of time."
Shock turned long ago to public fury. The police and judiciary seemed guilty of gross incompetence.
The first investigating magistrate was dismissed after having supper with one of the victim's families. Several prosecutors, police officers and witnesses have committed suicide. Evidence has gone astray.
After Mr Dutroux's arrest it transpired not only that he had been under surveillance, but also that he had served six years of a jail term for child rape.
Potential connecting information fell through the cracks between different police services. Worse still, police searched the house where two of his victims were hidden but failed to find them.
The pair later starved to death after Mr Dutroux was arrested on a completely separate issue - car theft.
The police faced further humiliation in 1998 when Mr Dutroux suceeded in escaping for three hours after overpowering an officer who was guarding him.
The interior and justice ministers resigned after the incident.
Several of the parents of the young victims later said they had lost faith in the will of the authorities to uncover the truth.
Mr Dutroux - who admits abduction, but denies murder - has accused the Belgian police and justice system of refusing to investigate leads he provided, which he says would prove that he was just part of a wider paedophile conspiracy.
But Belgian officials say that the long delay bringing the case to court partly results from the need to investigate these alleged networks, which they say do not exist.
'System on trial'
Back in 1996, hundreds of thousands took to the streets in the White March, one of the biggest protests Brussels has ever seen.
Thousands of Belgians took to the streets in protest
The government - shaken by the immense scale of public anger - promised changes to the constitution to reduce political interference in the judicial process.
But there is still a sense that the system itself is now on trial as well.
Conspiracy or no conspiracy, the system failed to follow clues and prevent terrible crimes taking place and then it failed to administer justice for eight long years.
Even now there is an unsettling sense of mystery hanging over this entire case.
Martine Van Praet, the lawyer charged with the defence of Belgium's most hated man says she fears it will be little more than a show trial.
"They've made him into a devil. And they say, 'There's the paedophile, the little girls, the horrible abuse'.
"They have made Mr Dutroux a devil and they are going to throw him away because he's been condemned, before the trial and it will leave the door open so all the bad things can continue."
But in a courtroom in the provincial city of Arlon, Mr Dutroux and three alleged accomplices, including his ex-wife are finally about to face Belgian justice.
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Deconstructing Belgium
Even after 173 years of nationhood, the Belgian state appears as implausible as ever. In a country united by pragmatism and divided by language, Khaled Diab asks whether Belgium will be torn apart by the force of words or be held together with the power of good sense.
Belgium celebrated its national day on Monday 21 July. As the nation kicked back its heels to enjoy the festivities, the royal family clocked in for their most important day's work of the year. While the strain of public life showed on some of the more obscure royals who snoozed in the aisles, King Albert II delivered his tenth anniversary address.
As is the custom, the easy-going Albert spoke in both French and Dutch. On the occasion of his 10 years on the throne, the king took the opportunity to express national pride and unity. But with no common language, no national newspapers or broadcasters, and an increasingly powerless federal government, the oneness of Belgium he sought to exalt was an extremely complex creature to pin down.
In fact, the royal family is one of the few threads holding the country's complex identity in place. Groping around for another symbol, he turned to sport. He referred to two rising Belgian icons - Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin-Hardenne - as symbols of national unity, and wished both of them luck as they battled for Belgium in the Fed Cup.
The sports-mad king was perhaps not just waxing lyrical because of Juju and Kimmy's historic moment - if lacklustre hour and a half - on the Roland Garros centre court in Paris, delivering him the first all-Belgian grand slam final (and title), exclusive access to the royal box and the opportunity to hand out the trophy.
I'm no monarchist and I certainly don't think that an elegant backhand or a killer serve should personify national identity. However, I can see the beautifully parallel careers of the tennis wonders - one a Fleming, the other a Walloon - both playing under the tricolours can raise the spirits, if not the essence, of modern Belgium.
Although the two enjoy a friendly rivalry and have such contrasting personalities, they have got on well since childhood. And the fact that they are tied so closely - Kim is the world's number two and Justine is number three - does not give a chance for regional envy or gloating to surface.
Nevertheless, the two young icons are daughters of their time and are living manifestations of the language fault line along which the country is slowly drifting apart: in public, Justine speaks French or English and does not speak Dutch, while Kim speaks Dutch or English, and prefers not to speak French. In fact, English is increasingly becoming the lingua franca in Belgium.
Post modern states of mind
To my eyes, Belgium, as a nation, can only be described as post-modern. The once central state apparatus is gradually being deconstructed and its competencies slowly devolved to the regions.
This devolution has resulted in a unique parallel system of government where power is divided geographically into regions and linguistically into communities. 'Regions' satisfied Walloon ambitions for greater regional economic power while 'communities' met Flemish aspirations for greater cultural autonomy.
The latter innovation came into existence to resolve the thorny issue of bilingual Brussels, which is predominantly French speaking but is historically and geographically Flemish. The settling of the status and borders of Brussels was the most ambitious constitutional reform Belgium had undergone since it was established in 1830.
And, just as a revolt at the unlikely venue of the opera house paved the way for Belgian independence in the 19th Century, the tiny village of Voeren/Fouron brought about the collapse of the national government in 1987 and sparked the reforms that would turn Belgium into a federal state.
'Federal' in Belgium has a special meaning. Whereas in most countries it means increasing centralisation of power, here it has meant the exact reverse. However, the most radical reform was to exclude the ultimate supremacy of national over regional government. This decoupling of hierarchies has led to the rather surreal situation of each region setting its own foreign policy.
It's hard to miss the apparent paradox of Belgium, while being one of the founder members of the European Union and home to most of its institutions, is concurrently dismantling its own instruments of state.
However, it can be argued that, in a unifying Europe, national boundaries are becoming less relevant. Strangely enough, the very fact that Belgium is at the heart of a larger evolving animal could be facilitating its own devolution.
One should not necessarily lament the passing away of the centralised Belgian state. This gradual devolution was born of a pragmatic awareness - a Belgian compromise, no less - that nationalistic tensions could quickly flare up into violence if they were not effectively dissipated.
Like a couple whose marriage was on the rocks, Belgium decided to go to counselling and reinvent its relationship. Now the two sides have more breathing space and are increasingly able to do their own thing. But this has led to a growing level of estrangement.
Now crunch time is approaching, and the disgruntled spouses have to decide whether they are willing to give union another chance under new terms or whether they should start proceedings for a divorce.
On the face of it, divorce might be the best option to end this weird union. But language is not everything. For historic and cultural reasons, Flemings are not willing to countenance becoming part of the Dutch-speaking Netherlands and, similarly, Walloons do not want to join France. In fact, although language divides Belgians, it also unites them in their respective distrust of their linguistic cousins across the border.
Since Belgians do not want to become part of another country and each region is too small to survive effectively on its own in the big, bad world, it is in the interest of Flemings and Walloons to stick it out together.
Beyond words
For the marriage to work, Belgians need more to bind them than a royal family, a passion for sport and a taste for beer, chocolate and fries. Apart from Brussels and its environs, people living in one region have very little awareness of what's going on in the other and very little contact with its people and culture - in fact, it's almost like being in two different countries.
In order to help overcome this in the short term, the regional media needs to give more attention to issues in the other part of the country. But the biggest barrier to greater mixing and understanding is language. Belgians need some way to bridge the language divide in order to make Belgium feel more like a single country.
One effective way to ensure that future generations move closer together is to introduce a system of bilingual education in which children receive instruction in a mix of their mother tongue and the other language.
Canada has successfully implemented bilingual education for years. In addition to promoting better social cohesion between communities, such a system has actually been shown to improve the academic and linguistic aptitude of students.
With the language barrier penetrated, a new generation of bilingual Belgians will move around the country more and intermix to a greater degree, enhancing the sense of shared nationhood.
Although the musical variety performance under the Justice Palace on 21 July underscored the cultural schism separating Belgians, it nonetheless demonstrated how joint cultural events can do their little bit to bring people closer - as was exhibited by a group of teenage Walloons who were delighted to discover that Hooverphonic was a Flemish rather than English band!
Perhaps Belgium should follow the example of some of its musicians. Urban Trad nearly stole the show in the kitsch world of Eurovision by demonstrating, with their wordless song, to Europeans - who are also divided by language - that people share something beyond words.
Through bilingual education and more intermixing as cultural equals, Belgians can make this bicultural marriage work by putting language in the backseat.
July 2003
http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=49&story_id=1579
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...IN THE U.S.?
China issues 2003 US human rights record
www.chinaview.cn 2004-03-01 10:07:07
BEIJING, March 1 (Xinhuanet) -- China issued the Human Rights Record of the United States in 2003 Monday in response to the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2003 issued by the U.S. on Feb. 25.
Released by the Information Office of China's State Council, the Chinese report listed a multitude of cases to show that serious violations of human rights exist on the homeland of the United States.
"As in any previous year, the United States once again acted as'the world human rights police' by distorting and censuring in the'reports' the human rights situation in more than 190 countries and regions across the world, including China. And just as usual, the United States once again 'omitted' its own long-standing malpractices and problems of human rights in the 'reports'. Therefore, we have to, as before, help the United States keep its human rights record," said the report.
The report reviewed the human rights record of the United States in 2003 from six perspectives: Life, Freedom and Safety; Political Rights and Freedom; Living Conditions of US Laborers; Racial Discrimination; Conditions of Women, Children and Elderly People; and Infringement upon Human Rights of Other Nations.
This is the fifth consecutive year that the Information Office of the State Council has issued human rights record of the United States to answer the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices issued annually by the State Department of the United States. Enditem
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...IN CHINA...
China
Briefing to the 60th Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights
January 2004
Objective
The Commission on Human Rights should adopt a resolution condemning China's violations of the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly, religion and belief, repression of minorities in Tibet and Xinjiang and violations of the right to non-discrimination for people living with HIV/AIDS. The resolution should urge judicial proceedings that meet international standards. It should also urge China to cooperate fully with UN monitoring mechanisms.
Background
Human Rights Watch has documented abuses directed against political dissidents, religious believers, labor activists, tenants' rights advocates, people living with HIV/AIDS, alleged "separatists" in Xinjiang and Tibet, and North Korean asylum seekers.
Freedom of association and the right to strike. China's constitution and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (which China has ratified) guarantee the right to freedom of association, but China prohibits independent trade unions. Labor protests have multiplied in many regions. In May 2003, after problematic trials, Liaoning province labor activists Yao Fuxin and Xiao Yunliang received seven and four-year sentences, respectively, for their role in organizing protests. Family members report that both men are seriously ill.
Xinjiang-Uighur Autonomous Region. China uses the U.S.-led "war on terror" to leverage international support for its crackdown on ethnic Uighurs in northwestern Xinjiang. Chinese authorities do not distinguish between peaceful and violent dissent, or between separatism and international terrorism. The state's crackdown on Muslim Uighurs has included summary trials and mass sentencing rallies. There have been credible reports of the extensive use of torture and the death penalty. The Chinese government has closed printing houses producing unauthorized religious literature; instituted mandatory "patriotic re-education" campaigns for religious leaders; stepped up surveillance of Muslim weddings, funerals, circumcisions, and house moving rituals; arrested clerics; raided religious classes; banned traditional gatherings; and leveled mosques.
Tibet. The Chinese government continues to impose severely repressive measures limiting any display of support for an independent Tibet. China curtails the Dalai Lama's political and religious influence through control of religious and cultural expression of Tibetan identity. In 2002, after a trial marred by lack of due process, a court sentenced Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, a locally prominent lama, to death with a two-year suspended sentence. He had been charged with causing explosions and "inciting the separation of the state." His alleged co-conspirator, Lobsang Dondrup, was executed. Several of Tenzin Delek's associates remain in prison; close to a hundred others were detained, many for attempting to bring information about the crackdown to the attention of the foreign community. Credible sources report ill-treatment and torture in detention.
The HIV/AIDS epidemic. China faces what could become the largest HIV/AIDS epidemic in the world. But widespread discrimination by state agencies and individuals forces many people with HIV/AIDS to hide without access to treatment or care. People living with HIV/AIDS interviewed by Human Rights Watch report that hospitals test them without their consent or knowledge and refuse care if they test positive for HIV. Persons at high risk of HIV/AIDS, such as injection drug users, face detention without trial in prison-like "forced detoxification centers." Such methods drive persons at high risk underground, out of reach of any state AIDS prevention programs. In the 1990s, profitable but unsafe state-run blood collection centers spread HIV in many regions of the country. The state has failed to investigate the role of local authorities in the epidemic or to hold officials accountable. Some responsible officials have been promoted. Although China has taken steps by promising to offer anti-retroviral treatment to impoverished persons with HIV/AIDS, the lack of legal and institutional reforms to protect their rights means such promises will be difficult to realize.
Forced eviction. China's rapid economic development has led to forced evictions in urban and rural areas. Residents complain of lack of advance notice, low compensation, and violent evictions by hired thugs and bulldozers. Chinese laws permit forced evictions to continue even while residents are suing to prevent them; many courts refuse to hear the cases. Protests have escalated, and there has been a series of suicide protests. In response, police have jailed tenants' rights advocates. The Chinese government has promised policy reforms, but while local Party officials can intervene to influence courts, these will be difficult to implement.
Restrictions on the Internet. Chinese authorities continue to restrict use of the Internet. In May 2003, a Sichuan provincial court sentenced Internet activist Huang Qi to a five-year prison term on charges of subversion. Others have been apprehended or sentenced for posting political opinions on bulletin boards or chat rooms. Chinese users cannot access foreign sites government officials consider "sensitive," domestic sites are arbitrarily shut down, and Internet service providers--including international ISPs such as Yahoo--are prohibited from publishing news that has not been officially cleared. Monitoring and censorship of electronic mail is routine, and China is reportedly training "cyber police" to monitor the activities of Chinese activists.
Repatriation of North Korean asylum seekers. China has forcibly repatriated North Korean refugees who have fled the harsh political and economic conditions in their homeland. China is a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol which prohibit such repatriation. China has not permitted the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees to establish a presence on the China-North Korean border.
Judicial proceedings. Police officials, prosecutors, and judges routinely compromise the legal rights of defendants. Although the 1997 Criminal Procedure Law revisions reinforced the rights of defendants, there is no presumption of innocence; defendants are denied timely access to counsel or to counsel of their own choosing; and defense counsel's ability to gather and present evidence is severely limited before and during any trial. China maintains "re-education through labor," a system of administrative punishment that incarcerates thousands of citizens each year without benefit of judicial review.
Recommendations
The Commission on Human Rights should:
Call on the Chinese authorities to immediately and unconditionally release all those held for peacefully exercising their rights of free speech, expression, and association, including those accused of religious or political offenses, labor activism, and so-called separatist activities; to abolish the reeducation-through-labor system; to legislate against discrimination on the basis of HIV status; to investigate and hold accountable officials who profited from blood collection centers that spread HIV and covered up the epidemic; to amend Chinese laws and regulations to bring them into conformity with international human rights law; to rescind the reservation to article 8(1)(a) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; and to permit workers to form and join their own trade unions and to bargain collectively.
Urge China to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which it signed in October 1998.
Urge revision of the Criminal Procedure Code and Law on Protecting State Secrets in line with international human rights standards.
Insist that China honor its refugee protection obligations, immediately halt all repatriation of North Koreans entering China, and begin a dialogue with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees about access to the China-North Korea border.
Urge China to cooperate fully with U.N. mechanisms, including by inviting thematic rapporteurs to visit the country.
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...IN IRAN...
Iran
Briefing to the 60th Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights
January 2004
Objective
The Commission on Human Rights should build upon the United Nations General Assembly's resolution on the human rights situation in Iran by re-establishing a Special Procedure to monitor and report on Iran's implementation of the resolution's recommendations. The Commission should also call on the Iranian authorities to implement the recommendations made by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in its June report.
Background
Iran's standing invitation to the Commission's thematic mechanisms was a welcome development in 2002.
However, Iran's human rights situation has steadily deteriorated since the 59th session of the Commission. In June and July armed plainclothes security forces attacked peaceful protesters. The Office of the Chief Prosecutor ordered the detention of scores of students, writers and journalists throughout the year. The use of torture in interrogations of political prisoners was highlighted by the death in custody of photojournalist Zahra Kazemi in July. The visit of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression was undermined by the arrest and detention without charge of at least one activist who spoke with him in Tehran.
Iran held its first two dialogues on human rights with the European Union, but the sessions have failed to produce results.
Absence of Due Process. The Office of the Chief Prosecutor, led by Said Mortazavi, routinely ignored Iranian and international law by ordering the arrest of journalists, students and writers who criticized government policies. Few of those formally charged or tried had access to an attorney, and many trials occurred in camera. Human Rights Watch is especially alarmed by the routine use of prolonged solitary confinement in combination with videotaped confessions. Some political prisoners, including Taqi Rahmani, Hoda Saber and Reza Alijani, have been in detention without charge for at least six months, much of it incommunicado. Siamak Pourzand, a 74-year-old journalist and activist, has been held in detention for over nine months and his family members are greatly concerned for his health.
Freedom of Expression. Many journalists and writers remain behind bars solely for exercising their right to freedom of expression. These include Akbar Ganji, Hassan Youssefi-Eshkevari, Abbas Abdi, Iraj Jamshidi, Taqi Rahmani, Hoda Saber and Reza Alijani. Lawyers who defend writers, journalists, and activists who have spoken out against the government are also at risk of arrest and detention. Plainclothes groups have also threatened those who advocate publicly for human rights. The government has not held these groups to account, and law enforcement forces often stand aside during confrontations. Nobel Prize recipient Shirin Ebadi was recently threatened by Ansar-e Hezbollah members while addressing students at al-Zahra University.
In 2003, following the attack on the reformist press launched three years earlier which resulted in the closure of all but two reformist papers, the authorities turned to the budding internet media. Chief Prosecutor Mortazavi ordered the arrest of several popular weblog writers, including Sina Motallebi, and the government attempted to block access to web publications. On January 7, 2003, it was reported that the judiciary ordered the blocking of reformist news website Emrooz to Iranian internet subscribers.
Torture and Ill-Treatment in Detention. The routine lack of respect for basic due process, as well as the frequent use of solitary confinement and prolonged interrogations heighten the risk of torture and ill-treatment in detention. Many freed political prisoners report regular beatings with cables on the back and soles of feet, assault with boots and fists on the head and torso, and forced immobilization in contorted positions. These methods are often used during and prior to interrogations and demands for videotaped or signed confessions.
The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention expressed concern in its June 2003 report about lack of access to counsel, abuse of solitary confinement practices, and breaches of due process.
Discrimination Against Religious and Ethnic Minorities. The lack of public school education in the Kurdish language remains a perennial source of Kurdish frustration. Followers of the Baha'i faith also continue to face persecution, including being denied permission to worship or to carry out other communal affairs publicly. At least four Baha'is are serving prison terms for their religious beliefs.
Recommendations
The Commission on Human Rights should:
Re-establish a special mechanism to monitor and report on the human rights situation in Iran.
Call on the Iranian authorities to facilitate visits by the U.N. Special Rapporteurs on violence against women, torture, and freedom of religion; and make public and time-based commitments to full implementation of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and other Special Rapporteurs' recommendations.
Call on Iran to:
ratify the CEDAW and CAT treaties, and announce an official review of reservations entered upon ratification of other major human rights instruments;
release all political prisoners;
authorize an independent and impartial investigation into judicial abuses by the Office of the Chief Prosecutor;
abolish of the death penalty for juvenile offenders (persons convicted for offences committed under the age of 18) as a first step towards total abolition of the death penalty;
amend the press law to safeguard freedom of the press and permit publications closed by unlawful judicial procedures to reopen;
establish strict limits on the use of solitary confinement in prisons, as well as the use of videotaped interrogations;
establish and enforce strict limits on incommunicado detention, and ensure prompt access to lawyers and family members for detainees. Courts should not admit as evidence incriminatory statements obtained through use of coercion; and
initiate a program of action to identify and address discrimination against minority groups.
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...IN CHECHNYA...
Russian Federation/Chechnya
Briefing to the 60th Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights
January 2004
Objective
The Commission on Human Rights should adopt a strong resolution on the situation in Chechnya, condemning ongoing violations of human rights and international humanitarian law by both parties to the conflict; urging the Russian authorities to establish a genuine accountability process for these abuses; calling on Russia to desist from coerced returns of internally displaced persons and to ensure their well-being; calling on Russia to invite key U.N. thematic mechanisms, in particular the Special Rapporteurs on torture and on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; and urging Russia to agree to a new Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) mandate for Chechnya.
Background
The October 2003 presidential elections in Chechnya did not change dynamics in the republic. Despite government claims of normalization, the situation there continued to be very tense.
Russian forces round up thousands of men in raids, loot homes, physically abuse villagers, and frequently commit extrajudicial executions. Those detained face beatings and other forms of torture, aimed at coercing confessions or information about Chechen forces. Federal forces routinely extort money from detainees' relatives as a condition for release.
"Disappearances" remain a hallmark of the conflict, and their frequency rose sharply in early 2003. According to statements by pro-Moscow Chechen officials, in the first half of 2003 an average of two people went missing every day, many of them after being detained by Russian forces. The Russian human rights group Memorial documented 294 "disappearances" between January and November 2003, including forty-seven people whose corpses were later discovered in unmarked graves or dumped by the roadside. The group estimates that the real number of "disappearances" was three or four times higher.
Starting in spring 2003, the conflict increasingly spilled over into other regions of Russia. Human Rights Watch research in Ingushetia in July found that Russian forces regularly conducted military operations there, targeting both Chechen internally displaced persons but also the local Ingush population. A series of suicide bombings in the North Caucasus and Moscow, often carried out by Chechen women, reinforced fears of a spreading conflict.
Harassment of applicants to the European Court of Human Rights emerged as a new and worrisome trend. After having "disappeared" an applicant in June 2002, Russian forces extrajudicially executed another applicant and her family in May 2003. Also, nongovernmental groups that represent Chechen victims of human rights abuses before the Court have documented threats against other applicants or their families in at least seven other cases.
IDP crisis. Russian authorities have continued to put undue pressure on displaced persons to return to Chechnya, where they remain at risk. In 2003, they closed two more camps for internally displaced persons in Ingushetia. Although eventually some camp dwellers were allowed to resettle in Ingushetia, months of carrot-and-stick tactics had already resulted in the return of many to Chechnya. Following a September 2003 visit to the region, the U.N. Representative of the Secretary General for Internally Displaced Persons stated that "IDPs in camps in Ingushetia were acutely apprehensive that the camps might be closed and that they might be forced to return to a situation in Chechnya which they regarded to be unsafe..." He also noted that persons who had returned to Chechnya due to incentives asserted that "they had not found much of what they had been promised including compensation and adequate humanitarian assistance and that they remained seriously concerned about the security situation and their own safety."
Abuses by Chechen fighters. Chechen rebels were responsible for several suicide bombings in and around Chechnya that caused major loss of civilian life. In December 2002 and May 2003, suicide bombers destroyed administrative buildings in Grozny and Znamenskoe. In June, a suicide bomber drove a truck into a military hospital in Mozdok. Chechen rebel groups may also have been responsible for a series of other suicide bombings in Chechnya and other parts of Russia. Rebel fighters also continued their assassination campaign against civil servants and others who cooperated with the Moscow-appointed administration in Chechnya.
Accountability. Russia continued to resist establishing any meaningful accountability process for crimes committed by its forces. Although the procuracy opened hundreds of criminal investigations into abuses by Russian troops, in most cases officials failed to conduct even the most basic investigative steps (including questioning eyewitnesses and relatives). As a result, most investigations remained unsolved and almost none were sent to the courts.
In one significant positive development, after three years of convoluted legal battles, Yuri Budanov, the only high-ranking officer tried for abuses related to the Chechnya conflict, was found guilty of murdering a young Chechen woman and sentenced to ten years' imprisonment. Budanov's conviction demonstrates that the Russian authorities are capable of bringing to justice those responsible for abuse provided the political will is there.
Access. In contrast to 2002, for most of the year no international monitors worked in the region. The OSCE Assistance Group's mandate expired in late 2002 and Russia has since refused to agree to a mandate that contains a human rights component. The Council of Europe's experts were withdrawn from Chechnya in early 2003, after a bomb attack on their convoy, and the volatile security situation since has not allowed them to return. In the four years of the conflict, Russia has not complied with U.N. resolutions calling for deployment of U.N. thematic mechanisms, with the exception of the Representatives of the Secretary-General on children in armed conflict and internally displaced persons. Among those who have been seeking access for years are the Special Rapporteurs on torture and on extrajudicial, summary, and arbitrary executions. While agreeing to a visit by the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, Russian authorities have canceled scheduled missions on a number of occasions, citing security conditions.
The Russian military periodically prevents access by journalists and human rights activists to the remaining tent camps in Ingushetia.
Recommendations
The Commission on Human Rights should:
Condemn ongoing violations of human rights and humanitarian law by both parties to the conflict. The resolution should call on the Russian authorities to immediately put an end to arbitrary detention and to observe international and Russian legal standards; to end the use of torture and ill-treatment; to put an end to the pattern of enforced disappearances; to end extrajudicial executions; and to stop harassing and threatening applicants to the European Court of Human Rights. It should call on Chechen rebel leaders to cease all attacks on civilians, including retaliatory attacks on Chechen civilians who cooperate with the Russian authorities.
Insist on accountability. The resolution should call on the Russian authorities to ensure meaningful investigations into all reported crimes by Russian troops against civilians in Chechnya or Ingushetia, and for the prosecution of the perpetrators; it should call on the Russian authorities to publish a detailed list of all current and past investigations into such abuses and indicate their current status; it should renew its call for a national commission of inquiry to document abuses by both sides to the conflict; and make clear that Russian authorities' continued failure to make progress on accountability will result in the establishment of an international commission of inquiry to document and produce an official record of abuses.
Call on Russia to desist from coerced returns of internally displaced persons and to ensure their well-being. The resolution should strongly condemn Russia's efforts to force internally displaced persons to return to Chechnya. It should call on the Russian authorities to stop moving any displaced persons to parts of the conflict zone where their safety and security cannot be guaranteed and where international humanitarian agencies do not have free and safe access.
Call on Russia to invite key U.N. thematic mechanisms, particularlythe Special Rapporteur on torture, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, and the Special Rapporteur on violence against women. Russia should also renew its invitation to the High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit the region and report to the Commission on the findings.
Call for renewal of the OSCE Assistance Group's mandate and cooperation with the Council of Europe. The resolution should call on the Russian government to agree to the renewal of the Assistance Group's mandate that expired on December 31, 2002, which should include a human rights component. It should also call on the authorities to cooperate with the Council of Europe.
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...IN EGYPT...
Egypt's Torture Epidemic
A Human Rights Watch Briefing Paper
February 2004
Torture in Egypt is a widespread and persistent phenomenon. Security forces and the police routinely torture or ill-treat detainees, particularly during interrogation. In most cases, officials torture detainees to obtain information and coerce confessions, occasionally leading to death in custody. In some cases, officials use torture detainees to punish, intimidate, or humiliate. Police also detain and torture family members to obtain information or confessions from a relative, or to force a wanted relative to surrender.1
While torture in Egypt has typically been used against political dissidents, in recent years it has become epidemic, affecting large numbers of ordinary citizens who find themselves in police custody as suspects or in connection with criminal investigations. The Egyptian authorities do not investigate the great majority of allegations of torture despite their obligation to do so under Egyptian and international law. In the few cases where officers have been prosecuted for torture or ill-treatment, charges were often inappropriately lenient and penalties inadequate. This lack of effective public accountability and transparency has led to a culture of impunity.
Police and state security agencies continue to use torture in order to suppress political dissent. In the past decade, suspected Islamist militants have borne the brunt of these acts. Recently, increasing numbers of secular and leftist dissidents have also been tortured by police and security officials. In March and April 2003, for instance, the authorities tortured and ill-treated in detention some demonstrators and alleged organizers of public protests against the U.S. led war in Iraq.2
Egyptian police regularly detain street children they consider "vulnerable to delinquency" or "vulnerable to danger."3 During arrest these children are routinely beaten with fists and batons. Children also told Human Rights Watch that police subjected them to sexual violence or tolerated sexual violence by adult detainees while in custody. They face brutal and humiliating treatment and, in some cases, this ill-treatment was so severe as to constitute torture.4
In addition, groups made vulnerable by stigma or social marginalization continue to be subject to police torture and ill-treatment. Many men arrested solely for consensual homosexual conduct, or suspicion thereof, have been beaten and tortured in police custody.5
Methods of torture include beatings with fists, feet, and leather straps, sticks, and electric cables; suspension in contorted and painful positions accompanied by beatings; the application of electric shocks; and sexual intimidation and violence.
Deaths in custody as a result of torture and ill-treatment have shown a disturbing rise in the past two years. Egyptian human rights organizations report at least ten cases in 2002 and seven in 2003 [see Appendix]. The Prosecutor General's office opened criminal investigations in some of these cases following formal complaints filed by human rights lawyers and family members. To Human Rights Watch's knowledge, none of these investigations have led to criminal prosecution or disciplinary actions against the perpetrators.
In the September-November 2003 period alone, Egyptian human rights organizations reported four cases of deaths in custody.
The Cairo-based Human Rights Centre for the Assistance of Prisoners (HRCAP), reported thatMuhammad `Abd al-Sattar al-Roubi, a 26-year old engineer, died on September 19 while in State Security Investigations (SSI) custody in Ebshiway detention center in Tibhar (al-Fayyum), after being tortured in an attempt to extract from him a confession regarding his political affiliations. The HRCAP reported that SSI officers told al-Roubi's father that his son had committed suicide. No autopsy report was made public stating the cause of death.6
The Association for Human Rights Legal Aid (AHRLA), an Egyptian human rights organization, reported that Muhammad `Abd al-Qadir, thirty-one, died on September 21, 2003, after being tortured in SSI custody in Cairo. Family members who saw Muhammad while he was still in custody said he told them that he had been beaten and tortured with electricity, and that marks of this torture were visible on his face and body. On September 21, police reportedly told his family that Muhammad had been moved to al-Sahil hospital; hospital officials then told the family his body had been moved to the Zainhum morgue for forensic examination. No forensic report was made public. AHRLA reported that medical personnel at the hospital told the family that Mohammad died as a result of being harshly beaten, and family members who saw the body said it bore evident signs of torture and ill treatment.7
The Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights (EOHR) reported that Mahmud Gabr Muhammad-a worker and resident of the al-Sayyida Zainab neighborhood- died on October 4, 2003, while being detained without charge in the al- Sayyida Zainab police station. Mahmud was arrested that day while he was in a caf?. A relative of the victim told EOHR that there were visible injuries on the corpse, including bruises under the knee, bleeding from the mouth, and other injuries all over the body. EOHR called for an investigation and a forensic examination in order to determine the cause of death.8
On November 6, 2003, the EOHR reported the death in custody of Mas`ad Muhammad Qutb, an accountant at the Engineers' Syndicate. He was reportedly arrested on November 1, 2003, by the SSI for being a member of the banned Muslim Brotherhood. He died on November 4, 2003, while being transferred from the SSI office in Gabir Ibn Hayan to Umm al-Masryyin Hospital. EOHR, citing al-Duqi police station report (No. 9214/2003), said that the Prosecutor General's investigation confirmed signs of inflicted injuries on the corpse and ordered a forensic examination to determine the cause of death. 9
Egypt is party to the major human rights treaties dealing with torture, notably the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Convention against Torture). Hence, Egypt is strictly obliged to prohibit any form of torture and ill-treatment and to take positive measures in order to protect victims of torture by carrying out thorough, impartial, and prompt investigations into allegations of torture and ill-treatment and filing criminal charges where appropriate. However, Egypt did not sign the Optional Protocol to the ICCPR, which establishes a mechanism for receiving individual complaints. Egypt also entered reservations with regard to Articles 21 and 22 of the Convention against Torture. Those articles affirm the right of State parties to the Convention to file torture-related complaints against another state as well as the right of victims of torture to file grievances directly with the committee that oversees compliance with the Convention.
Article 42 of Egypt's Constitution provides that any person in detention "shall be treated in a manner concomitant with the preservation of his dignity" and that "no physical or moral (m`anawi) harm is to be inflicted upon him." Egypt's Penal Code recognizes torture as a criminal offence, but the definition of the crime of torture falls short of the definition in Article 1 of the Convention against Torture. For example, under article 126 of the Penal Code, torture is limited to physical abuse, occurs only when the victim is "an accused," and only when torture is being used in order to coerce a confession. While confessions are frequently the object of torture, this narrow definition improperly excludes cases of mental or psychological abuse, and cases where the torture is committed against someone other than "an accused" or for purposes other than securing a confession.
Article 126 of the Egyptian Penal Code only penalizes acts of civil servants or public employees who commit or order acts of torture. The definition of torture in Article 1 of the Convention against Torture, by contrast, also covers situations when "pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity,"
Egypt's Penal Code also fails to provide for effective punishment of law enforcement officials responsible for torture and ill-treatment. Article 129 of the Penal Code states that any official who subjects persons to "cruelty," including physical harm or offences to their dignity, "shall be sentenced to an arrest period of no longer than one year, or with a fine not to exceed L.E. 200 [$30]." Article 280 of the Penal Code provides for similarly inadequate penalties regarding illegal detention.
Articles 63 and 232 (2) of Egypt's Code of Criminal Procedure give the Office of the Prosecutor General exclusive authority to investigate allegations of torture and ill-treatment, even in the absence of a formal complaint, to bring charges against police and SSI officers, and to appeal court verdicts. However, under articles 210(1) and 232(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure persons filing complaints against police for torture or ill-treatment do not have the right to challenge any decision, be it administrative or judicial, by the prosecutor's office. These articles prevent victims of torture from challenging arbitrary or capricious decisions by the Prosecutor General, thus granting the authorities effective immunity from judicial review, and thus unfettered discretion in determining how to respond to complaints of torture.
In practice, the government undertakes very few investigations and dismisses the seriousness of the problem of torture and ill-treatment in the country. Egyptian authorities admit only to "the occasional case of human rights abuses."10 One factor underlying Egypt's failure to investigate and punish acts of torture by law enforcement officers may be the apparent conflict of interest in placing the responsibility to monitor places of detention, order forensic exams, and investigate and prosecute abuses by officials within the same office that is responsible for ordering arrests, obtaining confessions, and successfully prosecuting criminal suspects.
Medical evidence is crucial to determining whether torture has been committed. In the absence of medical evidence or a forensic report the Prosecutor General need not undertake an investigation, much less a criminal prosecution, but access to specialists in the Justice Ministry's department of forensic medicine requires referral by the Prosecutor General or a court. The Prosecutor General is under no obligation to provide a referral in prompt and timely manner.
The government's failure to investigate promptly and impartially credible allegations of torture and ill-treatment of political detainees and ordinary citizens, even in many cases of death in custody, has fostered a culture of impunity and contributed to the institutionalization of torture. In the rare instances where the courts have convicted officials of torture, penalties have been lenient. The authorities do not provide information on the number of complaints received, and have seldom divulged criminal, administrative or civil actions taken in relation to incidents of death in custody or torture and ill-treatment.
Under Egyptian law, victims of torture and the dependent heirs of those who have died in custody may file a claim at the administrative court for compensation and for violations of personal freedoms protected by the Constitution. Victims of torture are usually reluctant to bring civil lawsuits for fear of retribution by the perpetrators and a desire to put the experience behind them.11 In addition, when plaintiffs are successful the courts rarely award compensation that is "fair and adequate," as mandated by Article 14(1) of the Convention against Torture.12 This, coupled with the absence of an effective system of criminal prosecution of torturers, makes torture very "affordable" for the Egyptian government.
The U.N. Committee against Torture, the U.N. Human Rights Committee and the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture have consistently expressed concern at the persistence of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment at the hands of law-enforcement personnel, in particular the security services. These bodies also criticized the lack of investigations into such practices, punishment of those responsible, and reparation for the victims.13
Despite Egypt's lamentable record on torture and ill-treatment, in recent years several countries, including the United States and Sweden, have extradited or rendered into Egyptian custody persons wanted by the government for alleged security-related offenses.14
Recommendations to the Government of Egypt
I) Policy Initiatives and Administrative Reforms:
Acknowledge the scale of torture in Egypt and its serious implications for Egyptian society. Initiate broad public and internal debate involving the Ministry of Interior, the Prosecutor General, the People's Assembly, the presidency, and relevant nongovernmental organizations about causes of and solutions for the problem of torture.
Issue and publicize widely a directive from the President of the Republic stating clearly that acts of torture and ill-treatment by law-enforcement officials will not be tolerated and that reports of torture and ill-treatment will be promptly and thoroughly investigated and perpetrators will be criminally prosecuted.
Direct the Office of the Prosecutor General to fulfil its responsibility under Egyptian law to investigate all torture allegations against law enforcement officials, including allegations filed by a third party (for instance, a human rights organization).
Establish an independent body, under the authority of the judiciary and comprising judicial, legal, and medical experts known for their independence and integrity, to oversee investigations of allegations of torture and ill-treatment by law enforcement officials and to evaluate the performance of the Office of the Prosecutor General with respect to due diligence in this regard.
Insure the independence of the Office of the Prosecutor General from political interference and activate prosecutorial oversight of all places of detention. Mandate prosecutors to conduct unannounced inspections of all places of detention, speaking to all inmates in conditions of privacy, and taking complaints.
End the practice of arresting children considered to be "vulnerable to delinquency" or "vulnerable to danger" and ensure that no child is subject to arrest, detention, or imprisonment except as a measure of last resort, and then only for the shortest possible time. In all such cases, children should be held separately from adults unless it is in their best interest to do otherwise.
Ensure that victims of torture have prompt access to medical care and forensic medical examinations and remove obstacles to the use of independent forensic examinations in criminal proceedings,
Maintain and make available to the public at least on an annual basis information and statistics regarding allegations and complaints of torture filed, and the legal and administrative responses to those allegations and complaints.
II) Legal Reforms:
Amend Article 126 of the Penal Code to make the definition of torture consistent with Article 1 of the Convention against Torture.
Amend provisions prohibiting torture and ill-treatment by officials, in particular 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 and reclassify these offences as felonies rather than misdemeanours.
Amend Articles 210 and 232 of the Penal Code to allow persons filing complaints of police abuse to challenge any prosecutorial decision not to investigate credible allegations of torture or not to prosecute those suspected of committing acts of torture and ill-treatment.
III) Transparency and international obligations:
Ratify the first Optional Protocol to the ICCPR to allow the Human Rights Committee to receive and consider individual complaints regarding violations of the ICCPR.
Make the necessary declaration under Article 22 of the Convention against Torture allowing the U.N. Committee against Torture to receive and consider individual complaints submitted by victims of torture and ill-treatment.
Invite the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture and the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention to visit and report on conditions in Egypt.
Ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (2002) under which state parties agree to allow independent international experts to conduct regular visits to places of detention within the country; to establish national mechanism to conduct visits to places of detention; and to cooperate with the international experts.
Recommendations to the Arab League
Call upon the Egyptian government to respect and comply fully with the principles and obligations laid down in the Arab Charter on Human Rights (1994), and specifically to meet its obligations under Article 13 of the Charter, which reads:
"(a) The States parties shall protect every person in their territory
from being subjected to physical or mental torture or cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment. They shall take effective measures to prevent such
acts and shall regard the practice thereof, or participation therein, as
a punishable offence."
Recommendations to the African Union
Call upon the government of Egypt to respect its commitments under the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (1981), and to take effective steps in accordance with the Guidelines and Measures for the Prohibition and Prevention of Torture, Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment in Africa, adopted in 2002 by the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, to end the practice of torture in Egypt.
Request that Egypt invite a committee of experts from the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights to investigate and report on the problem of torture and ill-treatment of detainees.
Recommendations to the International Community
Raise with the government of Egypt in all official meetings concerns over widespread torture and ill-treatment of detainees in police stations and security interrogation facilities.
Insist that Egypt take concrete and effective legal and policy steps to end the practice of torture and ill-treatment to hold accountable those responsible, and to provide fair and adequate redress for victims of torture.
Assist the Egyptian government with training programs for police, prosecutors, judges, and forensic doctors, with special emphasis on combating torture and treating the victims of torture and ill-treatment.
? Decline to extradite or render to the Egyptian authorities any person until the government has taken concrete and effective steps to stop the practice of torture and hold criminally responsible those law enforcement officials who order, condone, or commit such acts. Do not accept diplomatic assurances as sufficient for purposes of extradition or rendition.
Egypt: Reported Deaths in Custody owing to Torture and Ill-Treatment, 2003
Name & Age Date of Detention Date of Death in Custody Place of Detention Actions Taken Source
`Abdullah Rizq `Abd al-Latif May 2003 October 6th police station EOHR communication
Ahmad Muhammad `Umar June 1, 2003 July 6, 2003 al-Mahalla al-Kubra police station AHRLA communication
Ragab Muhammad `Afifi Zidan July 16, 2003 July 16, 2003 al-Minia police station Family filed case with Public Prosecution office. Forensic doctor confirmed that body did not show signs of suicide, contrary to claims made by the authorities. EOHR communication
Muhammad `Abd al-Sattar al-Rubi, 26 September 12, 2003 September 12, 2003 Ebshiwai detention center, Tibhar, al-Fayyum Family filed case with Public Prosecution office. Forensic Doctor assigned to the case. HRCAP communication
Muhammad `Abd al-Qadir, 31 September 14, 2003 September 21, 2003 Hadayyiq al-Qubba police station AHRLA communication
Mahmud Gabr Muhammad October 4, 2003 al-Sayyida Zainab police station EOHR communication
Mus`ad Muhammad Qutb, 43 November 1, 2003 November 6, 2003 al-Duqi police station EOHR communication
Egypt: Reported Deaths in Custody owing to Torture and Ill-Treatment, 2002
Name & Age Date of Detention Date of Death in Custody Place of Detention Actions Taken Source
Sayyid Khalifa `Issa, 24 January 26, 2002 Unknown Nasr City police station 2 officers sentenced to 3 years in prison on August 8, 2002; 2 others acquitted; 4 officers received one year suspended sentences and 1000 L.E fines EOHR annual report
Ahmad Taha Yusif, 42 February 23, 2002 February 23, 2002 al-Wayli police station Case referred to Cairo Criminal Court July 11, 2002 EOHR annual report
Midhat Fahmy `Ali, 35 March 10, 2002 March 10, 2002 al-Gumruk police station Pending charges against one police officer for cruelty EOHR annual report
Muhammad Mahmud `Uthman, 25 May 27, 2002 May 28, 2002 Masr al-Qadima police station Complaints filed by family & EOHR EOHR annual report
Mustafa Labib Abu Zaid, 25 Was already in prison July 3, 2002 Shubra police station Complaints filed by family & EOHR EOHR annual report
Muhammad Muhammad Shahin, 44 June 18, 2002 July 8, 2002 Wadi al-Natrun 430 prison EOHR annual report
Nabih Muhammad `Ali Shahin, 33 June 18, 2002 July 8, 2002 Wadi al-Natrun 430 prison EOHR annual report
Ibrahim `Umar Mustafa, 29 August 8, 2002 August 10, 2002 Giza police station Complaints filed by family & EOHR EOHR annual report
Shibl Bayumi Ibrahim, 32 September 11, 2002 Unknown Tanta Security Directorate Family & EOHR complaints EOHR annual report
Ahmad Khalil Ibrahim, 35 October 1, 2002 October 4, 2002 al-Gumruk police station Family & EOHR complaints EOHR annual report
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1 See, for example: Human Rights Watch World Report 2003,(New York, 2003), p. 434; World Report 2002 (New York, 2002), pp. 415-16; World Report 2001 (New York, 2000), pp. 373-74; World Report 2000 (New York, 1999), p. 346; World Report 1999 (New York, 1998), pp. 347-48.
2 Human Rights Watch, Security Forces Abuse of Anti-War Demonstrators, Vol. 15, No.10(E), November 2003.
3 These categories, set forth in Egypt's Child Law 12 of 1996, have become a pretext for mass arrest campaigns to clear the streets of children, obtain information about possible criminal activity, and force children to move on to other neighborhoods.
4 Charged with being Children: Egyptian Police Abuse Children in Need of Protection, HRW Vol. 15, No. 1(E), February 2003.
5 Human Rights Watch, "Egypt: Crackdown on Homosexual Men Continues," October 7, 2003.
6 Human Rights Center for the Assistance of Prisoners Press Release, "Citizen dies while in the State Security station in Ebsheway, Governorate of Al-Fayoum," September 22, 2003.
7 The Association for Human Rights Legal Aid Press Release, "The series of torture continues," September 30, 2003.
8 Egyptian Organization for Human Rights Press Release, "EOHR calls for investigating the death of a citizen in the office of the State Security Investigations in Gaber Ibn Hayaan," November 6, 2003.
9 EOHR Press Release, November 6, 2003: http://www.eohr.org/press/2003/8-1103.htm
10 U.N. Committee against Torture, Summary Record of the 385th meeting, May 14, 1999, U.N. doc. CAT/C/SR.385, Para. 11.
11 According to the Egyptian Human Rights Center for the Assistance of Prisoners in the majority of cases of torture, torture victims "prefer not to file lawsuit either due to fear of the perpetrators or to their relief at being released from the hell they experienced." Torture in Egypt: A Judicial Reality, HRCAP, March 18, 2001, page 27.
12 In 2000, only in four cases were victims of torture awarded compensation. The sum of awards ranged between 2,000 to 10,000 Egyptian pounds ($570 to 2,860 U.S.). The government told the Committee against Torture in 2001 that a total of seventeen compensation awards were made to victims in the period between 1997-2000.
13 United Nations, Conclusions and Recommendations of the Committee against Torture: Egypt, CAT/C/CR/29/4, December 23, 2002; United Nations, Concluding Observations of the Human Rights Committee: Egypt, CCPR/CO/76/EGY, November 28, 2002; United Nations Economic and Social Council; Report of the Special Rapporteur on Torture to the Commission on Human Rights, Question of the Human Rights of all persons subjected to any form of detention or imprisonment, in particular: Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, E/CN.4/1996/35, January 9, 1996.
14 See, for example: Anthony Shadid, "America Prepares the War on Terror: U.S., Egypt Raids Caught Militants," Boston Globe, October 7,2001; Rajiv Chandrasekaran and Peter Finn, "U.S. Behind Secret Transfer of Terror Suspects," Washington Post, March 11, 2002; Anthony Shadid, "In Shift, Sweden Extradites Militants to Egypt," Boston Globe, December 31, 2001.
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Egypt: Crackdown on Homosexual Conduct Exposes Torture Crisis
(Cairo, March 1, 2004) -- The Egyptian government continues to arrest and routinely torture men suspected of consensual homosexual conduct, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The detention and torture of hundreds of men reveals the fragility of legal protections for individual privacy and due process for all Egyptians.
"The prohibition against torture is absolute and universal, regardless of the victim," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. "Accepting torture of unpopular victims--whether for their political opinions or their sexual conduct--makes it easier for the government to use this despicable practice on many others."
The 144-page report, "In a Time of Torture: The Assault on Justice in Egypt's Crackdown on Homosexual Conduct," documents the government's increasing repression of men who have sex with men. The trial of 52 men in 2001 for the "habitual practice of debauchery"--the legal charge used to criminalize homosexual conduct in Egyptian law--was only the most visible point in the ongoing and expanding crackdown.
Today, Egyptian police use wiretaps and a growing web of informers to conduct raids on private homes or seize suspects on the street. Undercover police agents arrange meetings with men through chat rooms and personal advertisements on the Internet--and then arrest them.
Police routinely torture men suspected of homosexual conduct. The report cites testimonies of victims telling how they were bound, suspended in painful positions, burned with cigarettes or submerged in ice-cold water, and subjected to electroshock on their limbs and genitals. Numerous testimonies in the report accuse Taha Embaby, head of Cairo's Vice Squad, of direct participation in torture.
Doctors participate in torturing suspected homosexuals, under the guise of collecting forensic evidence to support the charge of "habitual debauchery," Human Rights Watch found. Prosecutors refer suspects to the Forensic Medical Authority, an arm of Egypt's Ministry of Justice. Doctors there compel the men to strip and kneel; they massage, dilate and in some cases penetrate the prisoners' anal cavities, subjecting them to intrusive, abusive, and degrading examinations to "prove" the men have committed homosexual acts.
Human Rights Watch called on the government to reform the criminal justice system to protect all citizens against torture and abuse. It also called on the government to end arrests and prosecutions based on adult, consensual homosexual conduct.
Five Egyptian human rights organizations--the Egyptian Association Against Torture, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, the Hisham Mubarak Law Center, the Nadim Center for the Psychological Management and Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence, and the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information--joined Human Rights Watch in Cairo to launch the report. They also joined in releasing the Arabic-language version of "Security Forces Abuse of Anti-War Demonstrators," Human Rights Watch's November report on arrests and torture of antiwar demonstrators during March and April 2003
"These reports together document a crisis in Egypt's criminal justice system," said Roth, who presented the report at a press conference in Cairo. "Impunity for torture and arbitrary arrest puts all Egyptians' rights at risk."
In its November report, Human Rights Watch documented excessive use of force by security forces to disperse demonstrators protesting the U.S.-led war against Iraq in March and April 2003. After arresting hundreds of protesters, police beat and mistreated many detainees--some to the point of torture--and failed to give medical care to seriously injured persons. Some of those beaten and tortured at the time filed official complaints with Egypt's Prosecutor General, requiring that office to investigate the allegations. Nearly a year after the arrests and complaints, the Prosecutor General has failed to launch an investigation.
Human Rights Watch has documented arbitrary detention and torture in Egypt for more than a decade. In 1992 the organization published "Behind Closed Doors: Torture and Detention in Egypt," a 219-page report that examined the routine use of torture, particularly against alleged Islamist activists and sympathizers, by the State Security Investigations Office (SSI) of the Ministry of Interior.
"It saddens me that Human Rights Watch has been documenting torture in Egypt for over a decade," said Roth, who also released the 1992 report at a press conference in Cairo. "The government's recent initiatives to improve its human rights image mean nothing unless it lives up to its obligation to investigate and punish those responsible for torture."
"In a Time of Torture: The Assault on Justice In Egypt's Crackdown on Homosexual Conduct" is available in English at http://hrw.org/reports/2004/egypt0304/
To read testimonies from the report, please see: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/02/27/egypt7675.htm
To read a recent Human Rights Watch briefing paper on police abuse and torture of detainees in Egypt, please see: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/02/26/egypt7660.htm
Posted by maximpost
at 5:21 PM EST
