Egypt is under the gun again for its human rights record. But, asks Amira Howeidy, does this change facts on the ground? Nagla is a young -- and relatively unknown -- Egyptian actress. She recently found herself in the spotlight, but not on the typical sort of stage or screen. She is one of the "stars" of a new documentary on torture in Egypt produced by Amnesty International (AI), and broadcast during the Geneva- based 11-20 November sessions of the UN Committee Against Torture (CAT). Called Egypt: No Protection -- Systematic Torture Continues, the video is widely available for download on the web, and features testimony given to AI by Nagla, who is a survivor of torture. Arrested by mistake, the video testimony claims, Nagla was beaten up and insulted. Worse yet, a police officer held a gun to her head, threatened to kill her, and even pulled the trigger several times. Needless to say, the gun wasn't loaded. The video shows footage of a broken- down, shaken and very scared Nagla right after she was alleged to have been tortured, and then footage of her a few months later appearing more collected, the black and blue bruises around her eye and covering half of her face finally gone. Still, she tells us, "I'll never feel safe again." While acknowledging the existence of torture, the government claims its human rights record in this regard has drastically improved. In the past ten years, a human rights desk (recently downgraded to a "unit") was established at the Foreign Ministry, a human rights officer appointed to the General Prosecutor's office with a mandate to receive and investigate torture complaints, and human rights workshops and training courses introduced in some departments at the Interior Ministry. More significantly, perhaps is the seemingly rights-conscious discourse that seems to be emerging from Interior Minister Habib El-Adli's office. Flogging has been abolished as a form of punishment in Egyptian prisons, and 13 police officers were recently charged with torturing citizens and referred to court. Indeed, the 20 November statement released by CAT regarding the fourth periodic report submitted by Egypt to the UN committee -- which is charged with overseeing the implementation of the Convention Against Torture -- praised "positive developments" on this front. The periodic report was submitted by a government delegation headed by Ambassador Naila Gabr, Egypt's Permanent Representative to the United Nations office in Geneva. The delegation also included representatives of the ministries of justice and interior. Amongst the positive developments listed in the CAT statement is the 1999 Circular Letter regulating the procedures for unannounced inspections which the Department of Public Prosecutions has an obligation to conduct in places of detention, particularly when it receives written or verbal reports or notifications indicating that a person was held illegally at a police station or other place of detention. Another plus for Egypt was the judiciary's decision not to permit any confession extracted under duress to be used as evidence in court. Efforts undertaken to give greater emphasis to human rights training of law enforcement officials and public servants was also given a nod, as was the 1999 founding of a Human Rights Committee, and the establishment, in 2000, of the Directorate-General for Human Rights Affairs at the Ministry of Justice, a body whose role is to assume "responsibility for the fulfilment of the legal aspects of international obligations arising from human rights instruments, and prepare replies to international bodies and promote greater public awareness". The UN committee, however, sees these steps as just the tip of the iceberg. The CAT report expressed concern over the "persistence of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment at the hands of law-enforcement personnel, in particular the security services whose recourse to such practices appears to display a systematic pattern". It referred to cases of death in custody and "widespread evidence" of torture and ill- treatment on administrative premises "under the control of the State Security Investigation Department". Other groups are also calling for a more radical shift in Egypt's attitude towards torture. In addition to its Web- based video, an AI report on systematic torture in Egypt alleges that "in Egypt everyone taken into detention is at risk of torture". Several local rights groups have also been actively campaigning, including the Human Rights Centre for the Assistance of Prisoners (HRCAP), which launched a campaign in 2001 called "A year to combat torture in Egypt". The campaign has been extended for another year. This year, for the first time, representatives of three Egyptian rights groups -- HRCAP, the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights and the Egyptian Centre for Housing Rights -- were invited to observe the examination of Egypt's report by the Committee Against Torture. International human rights organisations were also present. In fact, the hype surrounding the Geneva meetings seems to reflect increased concern with the situation as a whole. "Despite the progress that has been made in combating torture, we're a long way from doing enough," Negad El- Borai, a lawyer and rights activist who attended the sessions, told Al-Ahram Weekly, "There is more torture, and less interest in talking about it. It has become so systematic that we have gotten used to it. It's become as ordinary as the smog covering Cairo." El-Borai said that things were "getting out of hand, and not only with political detainees. Anyone is subject to torture and harassment, indiscriminately." According to El-Borai, the Egyptian delegation at the CAT meeting failed to provide convincing answers to the committee's queries. In fact, when the assistant minister of interior was asked about the number of detainees in Egyptian prisons, El-Borai says "he [the government official] couldn't offer any figures because, he claimed, thousands are detained or released everyday and thus there's no way to find out." El-Borai says the problem stems from Egypt thinking that signing international rights covenants is enough. "Of course it isn't. Egypt has duties and is obliged to improve its human rights record if it wants to remain a state party." For victims of torture, international human rights treaties signed by Egypt do not seem to help much. What good are anti-torture campaigns, many are asking, when they fall on deaf ears? A huge gap exists between those discussing rights treaties in Geneva and police officers who systematically resort to torture. "Despite the bleak picture, things are changing," argues El-Borai. "Egypt is legally obliged to implement the provisions of these treaties. If not, it could be subject to sanctions -- unless of course, it withdraws from the convention and is relegated to the status of a pariah state." In other words, El-Borai says, in the new world order, the message is clear: "Change before you are changed."
