The Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights' 16th annual report dismisses claims that violations in Egypt are on the decline however a security official insists otherwise, writes Jailan Halawi "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely," warned Lord Acton more than a century ago. Should anyone still doubt the contention they should look at the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights' (EOHR) 16th annual report, which warns of the continued deterioration in Egypt's human rights situation as a result of the unlimited powers granted to the government by virtue of emergency laws that have been in force since 1981. Repeated government assurances that martial law is soon to be replaced by a new anti-terror law in two years have left rights activists sceptical over whether the change will lead to any substantive improvement in respect for human rights. As EOHR Secretary-General Hafez Abu Seada notes, Law 97 for the year 1992 long ago tightened penalties in terror-related crimes and allows the security apparatus to adopt a wide range of measures in pursuit of suspects. In introducing the 300- page report, Abu Seada was critical not only of current laws but cast doubt on whether the legislative amendments promised by the government will help improve the situation. What is needed, he argued, is not new legislation but a greater commitment to freedom. Under the pretext of "combating terror," he notes, the state has accrued "an arsenal of oppressive laws that grant unlimited powers to the security apparatus and curb legal and judicial guarantees of citizens' rights while further fettering freedom of opinion and expression". Despite the decline in attacks in Egypt following the Islamic militants' declaration of a unilateral ceasefire initiative in 1997, the government, rather than grant more freedom, has extended emergency laws under the pretext of "precautionary measures," a process that gained momentum following the 9/11 attacks on the US and was reinforced by sporadic outbursts of violence in the Sinai Peninsula over the past two years. Abu Seada dismisses the notion that the government's widely-trailed anti- terror law will improve conditions, saying it could, if anything, worsen the situation. Like two sides of the same coin the new law, he opined, aims to "endorse certain exceptional measures followed under the emergency law and thus legally rein in freedoms". In the preface the EOHR explained that the report, considered one of the organisation's most important releases, attempts a general overview of human rights over the previous year and as such is not a statistically comprehensive compilation of violations that have occurred. The report is divided into three sections. The first, dealing with legal developments, judicial rulings and related procedures, is highly critical of last year's amendment to Article 76 of the constitution, describing it as "frustrating and disappointing" to the majority of political activists and those concerned with human rights. The second section, which comprises the main body of the report, comprises the results of EOHR's monitoring, documentation and follow-up of the human rights situations in Egypt across a range of issues, including the right to life; the right to freedom and personal security; freedom of mobility; collective punishment; forced disappearance; the treatment of prisoners and detainees; the right to a fair and just trial; freedom of opinion and expression; the right to peaceful assembly; social and political rights; the rights of Egyptians abroad and discrimination against women. On the right to life the report did note a "tangible improvement", with the number of extra judicial deaths while in detention falling from 22 in 2004 to 17 in 2005. The same section, though, went on to document continued violations of the right to freedom and security as manifested in the torture of detainees in police stations and other detention venues. In citing 34 cases of the torture of suspects and/or their families the report underlined that it was exposing only the most extreme cases of what has become routine practice. The report highlighted the continuing "arbitrary and political detention of suspects as well as the prolonged detention of inmates who have completed their sentences but who... remain in jail despite court rulings ordering their immediate release". Violations of human rights in Egypt were the subject of nine reports discussed by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in its second session, which continues in Geneva until 6 October. On 26 September the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) published a 20-page digest of Egypt-related cases among the annual reports presented to the council by independent investigators on torture, arbitrary detention, forced disappearances, extra-judicial executions, counter-terrorism, freedom of opinion and expression, freedom of religion and belief and violence against women. The incidents detailed in the digest, says EIPR Director Hossam Bahgat, are the result of "the impunity enjoyed by security officers who routinely violate fundamental rights". Established in December 2005 to replace the Commission on Human Rights, the UNHRC, with 47 member states, is the world's leading intergovernmental rights body. It held its first session in June. The EOHR reports no tangible improvements in prison conditions over the past year or in the treatment of prisoners and detainees. Prisons continue to deprive detainees of adequate food, health care, access to education, visits and communication with the outside world. The EOHR describes such deprivations as part of "a philosophy adopted by the Ministry of Interior which views them as a legitimate form of extra punishment". Among its recommendations the EOHR called on the executive authority, including police and security forces, to abide by international prisoners' rights treaties, saying sporadic checks of detention facilities should be undertaken in the presence of an independent committee comprising members of the judiciary, lawyers and an independent medical team to ensure that prisoners' rights are not being withheld. It has also called for human rights groups to be allowed to pursue their own investigations. In response to the report a high- ranking security official, speaking to Al-Ahram-Weekly on the customary condition of anonymity, argued that while the security apparatus exerts every effort to safe-guard national security as well as the rights of individuals "it remains an institution run by human beings and therefore with a margin of error. "There will inevitably be violations," he said, "but they are the exception and not the rule." He insists that where violations are reported "immediate investigations are undertaken and those found guilty punished. No one is above the law". He denies inmates are deprived of access to education, citing the case of Tarek El-Zomor, a leading member of Egypt's Jihad group, serving a life sentence for his role in the 1981 assassination of President Anwar El-Sadat. El-Zomor completed post graduate studies in law and obtained a PhD earlier this year. "As an executive authority we follow the government's initiative of working towards eradicating illiteracy and do not stand in the way of those seeking education," noted the source. The EOHR report also criticises the government for its failure to guarantee the right of its citizens to a healthy environment, saying that levels of pollution in parts of Egypt have reached unacceptable levels and government action is urgently needed.
