On 11 September 2009, Alkarama sent an urgent appeal to the Special Rapporteur on Torture asking him to intervene with the Egyptian authorities in order to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of Mr Abdullah Awad. Mr Abdullah Maher Ibrahim Awad, born in 1984 and a resident of Hay Al-Fawakhriya in Al-Arish Governorate in North Sinai, was until recently studying at Al-Azhar University in Cairo. Circumstances of arrest, detention and torture SSI officers failed to provide any judicial arrest warrant when Mr. Mr Abdullah Awad was arrested at his home on 25 March 2009 . He was immediately taken to SSI headquarters in Nasr City, a district of Cairo some 300km from Al-Arish, where he was detained incommunicado for 2 months. During this period, his family was never informed of his arrest nor were they aware of his whereabouts. At SSI headquarters, Abdullah Awad was subjected to serious torture aimed at forcing confessions. He was repeatedly hit over the head, whipped on the feet, hung from the ceiling, and forced to stand without sleeping. He was also dragged along the floor and thrown against walls. As a result of this torture, he developed a limp and was later found to have a blood clot forming on his brain. It was only on 25 May 2009 that the Interior Ministry issued a formal warrant for his arrest and he was consequently transferred to Al-Marg prison, Cairo, where he was held in solitary confinement. Eventually, on 2 June 2009, his family were informed of his whereabouts. During the family’s four visits to the prison, they noticed the continual deterioration of his health: at first suffering from severe fatigue and a limp; he began becoming cross-eyed, and suffering from severe migraines. By the end of June Abdullah Awad had a visible tumor forming on one of his eyes. Final release On 30 June 2009, the Penal Court of Cairo ordered his release, however the Ministry of Interior immediately issued an administrative order for his arrest and transferred him to Burj Al-Arab prison. Mr Awad’s family and lawyer submitted several request between 1 and 17 July 2009 asking for him to be given a CT scan. Their request was finally granted on 17 July 2009 and he was transferred to Alexandria University Hospital for further treatment. The results were conclusive; he had a blood clot on the brain that was putting pressure on his optic nerve and require immediate surgery. He was operated on 19 July 2009. Unbelievably, after his operation prison authorities tried to return him to Burj Al-Arab. However, the doctors refused and he was kept at Alexandria University Hospital under heavy security supervision until the Ministry of Interior finally ordered his effective release on 18 August 2009. Reminder The torture of Mr Abdullah Awad is in direct violation of domestic law under the Egyptian Constitution of 1971 and Egypt’s Penal Code of 1973. International law obliges Egypt to respect its commitments made upon ratification of the Convention against Torture on 25 May 1986.

Their personal information is as follows:

Faris Al-Turkawi, 22, student, was arrested in Lebanon during the events of Nahr Al-Bared in 2007 and was sentenced by a military court to two years imprisonment. According to our information, his disappearance occurred in January 2009.

Mossab Bakkor, 31, was arrested in May 2006 after a demonstration in Lebanon in front of the Danish embassy in reaction to the caricature of Prophet Muhammad published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in September 2005. According to our information, his disappearance occurred in June 2009.

Alkarama is monitoring these cases.

He was arrested on 3 December 2008 after being released on 5 November 2008, following 18 years imprisonment. On 13 December 2008, he was sentenced to one year in prison for giving an interview on the television channel “Al Hiwar”. This sentence was confirmed by the rejection of his appeal in the Court of Appeals of Tunis on 4 April 2009.

The conditions of his present detention in Nador prison (near Bizerte) continue to deteriorate to the point of being subjected to daily humiliations. He is essentially deprived of care and his basic rights.

Dr. Chourou in 1991

The inhumane prison conditions are tantamount to torture and have particularly severe consequences on his current state of health. Now at 62, he is suffering from various chronic diseases due to long periods of seclusion.

There is no doubt that this treatment is by instruction from political authorities at the prison and is retaliation for him having reported his case to the UN special procedures.

Reminder

Dr. Sadok Chourou was first arrested on 17 February  1991 as chairman of the political movement “Al-Nahdha”. Since, he has been held incommunicado for long periods and severely tortured by the authorities of the Ministry of Interior.

He was brought before the military court in Tunis in 1992 and sentenced to life imprisonment following what was considered by all Human Rights NGOs as an unfair trial and unanimously regarded as a case of a prisoner of conscience.

He was held under especially difficult detention conditions in an isolated jail cell for 14 years. He has been on more than a dozen hunger strikes, the last having taken place in 2007.

He was released 5 November 2008 after 18 years imprisonment following a pardon granted by the government to 21  ”Al Nahdha” members to mark the 21st anniversary of President Zine Ben Ali’s accession to power in 1987.

He was re-arrested on 3 December 2008 following several telephone interviews, including one on the Arab television station “Al-Hiwar” on 1 December 2008, during which he discussed issues of civil liberties and politics in his country and the conditions of his detention. (see communiqué)

Tunisia ratified the Convention against Torture on 23 September 1988. For over 10 years the country has not submitted a report to the Committee against Torture, the last dating back to 1998.

Reliable sources indicate that Ghannam Said Mahmoud and Alaa Issa, two teachers from Al-Arish, were arrested after Taraweeh prayer on 1 September 2009 as they were leaving their local mosque. They were blindfolded and taken to their homes where SSI forces vandalized their property, seized valuables and intimidated their family members.

They have still not been presented before a judge and have been subjected to various forms of physical torture.

Alkarama will continue to closely monitor these cases and will inform the appropriate UN procedures of these violations. We remind the Egyptian authorities of their obligations under the Convention against Torture.

The lifeless body of Mr Magdi Marei was thrown from a police car on 11 July 2009 near the village of Arimon in Al-Beheira Governorate, in the northwest of Egypt. Previous to this, several of his family members were brutalized and part of his brother’s house was demolished. (عربي) (Français)

Alkarama submitted a communication on 7 September 2009 to the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions asking him to intervene with the Egyptian authorities so that they respond to the family’s complaint and order an investigation into his death.

Mr Magdi Anwar Abu Nader Al Marei, 43, was a farmer, living and working in the Arimon village, Mahmudiyah, in Al-Beheira. Neighbours had previously complained about the expansion of his house with that of his brother’s. On 11 July 2009, several police officers from Fisha and Mahmoudiya police stations visited his family home, armed with batons and guns.

They ordered Mr Marei’s brother, Saeed Marei, to destroy the extension. The brother asked if they had a permit or if they were in possession of a court order for demolition. The commanding police officer said they did not need one. Mr Saeed Marei then refused to destroy the extension. The officer in charge then ordered his men to do so. When family members tried to resist, they were threatened and beaten, including women and children.

Once the demolition was complete, police wanted to scatter witnesses to the demolition, but they refused, in turn, they were beaten. They then grabbed Mr Magdi Marei’s daughter and dragged her on the ground towards a police vehicle. Her uncle, Saeed Marei, tried to intervene, but was thrown into the same car that drove off at full speed. Mr Magdi Marei ran behind the car in an attempt to stop it, but police officers arrested him and beat him. He was then put into another car that quickly dashed from the scene.

According to the testimonies of those present, the car containing Mr Magdi Marei suddenly stopped and his body was thrown out. He was dead, beaten to death. His daughter was released while his brother was transferred to Fisha police station.

Mr Magdi Marei’s autopsy concluded that he died from blows by a solid object. This confirms that his death was due to blows before and after being thrown into the car.

After his release, Mr Saeed Marei complained to the Attorney General of Mahmudiyah. However, the intelligence services officer in charge of the investigation is known for the torture and abuses he has committed. He has so far denied that any incident occurred, even despite the police confirming these facts.

Unfortunately, these cases are not isolated. This practice is widespread and continues with impunity in Egypt.

Egypt ratified the Convention against Torture on 25 June 1986 and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on 14 January 1982 and has pledged to respect its principles.

We recall that Egypt will be considered under the UPR of the Human Rights Council in early 2010. Alkarama has presented a report in this regard.

On 2 September 2009, Alkarama sent a communication to the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, asking it to once again intervene in the case of Dr Al-Rayyes, who was arbitrarily detained in 2003 and 2004 for publicly voicing his political opinions. Dr Abdullah El b. Ibrahim b. Abd Mohssen Al-Rayyes was born in 1961 in Riyadh. He is a professor of educational sciences at King Saud University in Riyadh. He was arrested at his home in Riyadh on 25 May 2009 by the Intelligence Services (Amn Al Mabahit Addaoula) without a judicial warrant and without being given reasons for his arrest. He has been held incommunicado for what is now more than three months and has been denied legal aid for his assistance.

Dr. Abdullah Al-Rayyes was the signatory of a 2003 petition by Saudi intellectuals which addressed the Crown Prince of the Kingdom demanding institutional reforms. He was first arrested and then detained incommunicado without due process from 27 May  2003 to December 08, 2004, when he was released without trial.
Alkarama presented his case to the Working Group on 29 June 2004.

After his initial release, Dr Al-Rayyes was continuously subjected to pressures and threats from the authorities because of his public positions on seminal issues in the region, which are considered as “extremist” by the authorities because of their non-compliance with official discourse.

This is mostly likely why Dr Al-Rayyes was again arrested just days after publicly expressing his condemnation of violations of human rights by American troops in Iraq. The denial of his freedom is part of the authorities mandate to suppress any dissenting political opinions, i.e. contrary to official discourse.

His current detention without legal procedure, is a violation of his right to exercise public and peaceful expression of his political opinion. His detention is arbitrary and violates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, specifically Article 19.

This incommunicado detention, without legal proceedings, is contrary to Saudi domestic law as well as the fundamental principles established by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Alkarama urges the Working Group to intervene with the Saudi authorities in order to take the necessary steps to remedy this situation; to bring it into conformity with the norms and principles enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, by appealing for the immediate release of Dr. Abdullah Al-Rayyes.

A reliable source indicated that a further two arrests took place on 18 August 2009:

Mohammad Abdullah Ahmed Adam, 50, works as a freelancer and currently resides in Faisal, Suez.

Al-Husseini Mahmoud Abu Al-Anein, 51, is the Director of the Development and Agricultural Credit Bank in Suez and currently resides in Ataqa, Suez. This puts the total to 35 individuals recently arrested in Suez.

Arrest and detention

On 20 August 2009 15 Egyptian nationals were arrested by State Security Investigation (SSI) forces in the Al-Bahira Governorate. The SSI, accompanied by a team of Special Forces belonging to the Central Security agency, forced their way into their homes and arrested the individuals without warrants or public authority.

After their initial detention at an SSI facility in Dawar village, they were presented before a prosecutor on 21 August 2009. Ten of the individuals were held there until 23 August 2009 and then transferred to Borg el Arab Prison. The remaining five individuals were eventually released from the SSI facility on 28 August 2009, however immediately re-arrested by the SSI under and administrative detention order and subsequently transferred to Wadi Natroun Prison, where they are currently detained. All of the individuals listed below are accused of belong to the Muslim Brotherhood, a banned group in Egypt, which the authorities deem a threat to public security.

Currently being detained at the Borg el Arab Prison (transferred to Borg el Arab Prison from SSI facility on 23 August 2009):
1. Muhamed Al-Safi Ibrahim Othman (محمد الصافي إبراهيم عثمان), aged 47 (born in 1962), working as the Director of Production for an Egyptian textile company.
2. Mustafa Sulaiman Abdullah Sulaiman (مصطفى سليمان عبد الله سليمان), working as an English teacher.
3. Adel Abdul Wahab Mergi (عادل عبد الوهاب مرجي), working as an English teacher .
4. Yahia Abdulati Ibrahim (يحيى عبد العاطي إبراهيم), working as the Supervisor at the Memphis Medical
Company.
5. Yasser Ali Abdelrafea (ياسر  علي  عبد الرافع), working as the Director of a library.
6. Ibrahim Mustafa Abu Al-Saud (إبراهيم مصطفى أبو السعود), working as the Director of Study and Research at the Directorate of Organisation and Administration.
7. Sami Mohammed Abdel Mohsen (سامي محمد عبد المحسن), working as an Imam.
8. Osama Abdel Nabi Ahmad (أسامة عبد النبي أحمد), working as a teacher at the Secondary School of Mechanics.
9. Hazem Suleiman Kamel (حازم سليمان كامل), owner of a workshop.
10. Yahia Mohamed Mohamed Hegazi (يحيى محمد محمد حجازي), aged 57 (born in 1952), working as a civil servant at the Customs Office.

Currently being detained at Wadi Natroun Prison (detained at the SSI facility until 28 August 2009 when released and immediately re-arrested by the SSI under an administrative detention order and transferred to Wadi Natroun Prison):
11. Al Sayed Darwish Mwaanis (السيد درويش مونس), aged 55 (born in 1954), working as a high technician at the Al-Bahira Electricity Distribution Company.
12. Ali Mahmoud Taha (علي محمود طه), aged 41 (born in 1968), working as an agricultural engineer at Edco. 13. Mohamed Suleiman Al Sheikh (محمد سليمان الشيخ), aged 29 (born in 1980), working as a chemist.
14. Naji Abdul Rahim Sarhan (ناجي عبد الرحيم سرحان), aged 37 (born in 1972), working as a teacher at the Al Amine Private School.
15. Fatah Allah Mansour (فتح الله منصور), aged 25 (born in 1984), working as an agricultural worker.

Fears and obligations

There exist obvious fears that these individuals may make or have already made confessions under torture and duress. All signs point to a recent and similar case involving a group of individuals arrested alongside Fares Barakat on 17 May 2009.

Egypt ratified the UN Convention against Torture on 25 June 1986 and is obligated to uphold the obligations of under Article 15 of the Convention which stipulates that “any statement which is made as a result of torture shall not be evoked as evidence in any proceedings.”

We also reminded that Egypt’s human rights situation will be discussed at the upcoming Universal Periodic Review of the Human Rights Council in the beginning of 2010. Alkarama will submit a report for this review.

At 22h00 on Sunday 16 August 2009 Yemeni authorities released Mr Karama Khamis Said Khamisan a former Guantanamo prisoner, after five months in secret detention under Political Security forces in Al-Mahra province (south-east Yemen). Throughout this whole period, he was never brought before a judge nor were any charges brought against him. (عربي) (Français)

Mr Khamisan was arrested on 16 March 2009 by a branch of the Political Security forces. His family was only able to visit him once in the week after his arrest, however thereafter he was held incommunicado in secret detention. During this period he was seriously ill, and there were fears that he was being subjected to torture.

In light of these events, Alkarama made an appeal to the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, to urgently intervene with the Yemeni authorities in this regard. We are reminded that the Yemen ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 9 February 1987, and the Convention against Torture on 5 October 1991.

Mr Khamisan, born in 1970, was a resident of Kashan, in Al-Mahra, where he worked. He was detained in Guantanamo Bay for more than three years before being handed over on 15 September 2005 to the Yemeni authorities.

Upon his return from Guantanamo, after being detained there secretly for several months, Mr Khamisan was brought before the State Security Court on 13 March 2006 and charged with drug trafficking. The court acquitted him on the same day, but the Attorney General appealed against the ruling. However, on 30 April 2006 the Court of Appeals upheld the decision, but Khamisan was not released until 10 May 2006.

In view of his extremely serious stomach ulcer, as a result of the torture he suffered at Guantanamo Bay, he was undergoing continuous medical by a specialist in the neighboring city of Shibam. On 16 March 2006, as per usual, he went to see his physician in Shibam for a check-up. Following the visit, he disappeared and his family had no news from him for a week until they later learned that he was arrested 15 March 2006 by local Political Security forces as he was leaving a mosque. He was then taken to their headquarters in Ghaydah, Al-Mahra province. During a family visit to Ghaydah, they were able to confirmed news of his capture, after receiving permission to visit him. He had not been charged with any crime.

Despite the tireless efforts made by his family, the Political Security forces refused to provide any new information on the case. During this time, Mr Khamisan was in complete isolation, cut off from the outside world.

After receiving correspondence from the victim’s family, the Hood Organization for Human Rights wrote a formal letter to the Head of the Political Security forces, Maj. Gen. Ghalib al-Qamsh, requesting the immediate release of Mr Khamisan, but to no avail.

The victim’s family’s concerns were legitimate and real. He was being subjected to torture and /or ill-treatment while in secret detention, which only exacerbated these concerns, as his health was deteriorating due to the lack of medical care.

In any cases, Mr Khamisan’s secret detention, without due process of law, should be considered as arbitrary and is contrary to domestic legal standards, as well as being contrary to the relevant international standards set forth in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

On 24 August 2009 Alkarama submitted communications to the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions (SRSUMEX), to the Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights Defenders (HRD) and to the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers (IJL) to inform them of the death and asking them to intervene with the Iraqi authorities.

Mr Mubarak Hakki Ismail is also known as Mr Al-Qisi. He was born in 1962 and lived in the Beladrouz district of Diyala Governorate (120 km east of Baghdad). He was a lawyer and had previously informed Alkarama of cases of torture and disappearance incurred by his clients in order for us to submit their cases to the UN special procedures.

He was particularly committed to the group of people arbitrarily detained because of their familial and professional connections with the Iraqi MP Muhammed Al-Dainy (see communiqué). In some cases they were victims of torture and forced disappearance; Alkarama alerted the UN special procedures to intervene with the Iraqi authorities.

Alkarama was informed of the attempted murder of Hakki Ismail at his home Thursday 23 July 2009, when he was shot by three armed men driving in a car which then quickly left the scene. He managed to survive this incident and was transported to the main hospital in Baquba in Diyala, before being transferred to a Baghdad hospital.

Approximately 36 hours after the assassination attempt, his condition improved and he was able to move and walk along the corridors of the hospital. It was also able to provide testimony about the intimidation tactics suffered before the assassination attempt by persons known to be members of government-allied militias who threatened him with “physically liquidation”.

Hakki Ismail complained to authorities about the threats, however the judge in Beladrouz did not give the order for any arrests. Hakki Ismail began to fear for his life because he eventually figured out that the Beladrouz Chief of police was aware of Hakki Ismail’s testimony.

We were finally informed Hakki Ismail’s death on the night of 25 July 2009, following a poisoning. He informed his entourage that his condition began to deteriorate after a nurse injected intravenously with a substance four hours earlier. His blood pressure rose rapidly.

An autopsy was conducted at the request of his family on 26 July 2009. As feared, the cause of death on the death certificate was given as a result of gunfire. No investigation has been conducted on the substance injected Hakki Ismail drip.

We believe that the death of Hakki Ismail is the result of an extrajudicial execution and we request the SRSUMEX to intervene with the Iraqi authorities so as to initiate an investigation in order to establish the true cause of death. A new autopsy should be performed by doctors chosen by the family of the deceased in order to transmit the results. The authorities should also investigate those who made threats against him in order to prosecute them criminally and agree to reimburse the family.