Al-Masry Al-Youm has learnt that a delegation of Amnesty International is currently in Cairo for a two-week visit to discuss human rights situation in Egypt, especially with regard to detainees and prisoners and the problem of slums, according to a member of the delegation called Saad Haddadi. The delegation is holding meetings with officials of the ministries of foreign affairs, interior, housing and local development as well as Cairo Governorate. Informed sources told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the delegation has met with some representatives of human rights organizations and NGOs in Egypt to discuss the situation of prisoners inside Egyptian prisons and see how better political and criminal detainees are treated. According to the delegation, some representatives of these NGOs affirmed that living conditions inside prisons have been positively affected by al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya group's initiatives to renounce violence (knows as 'revisions') and the release of some of the group's members by the Ministry of Interior. The sources also affirmed there were some 23,000 political detainees in the mid-1990s. They said they are now likely to be not more than 2,000 due to the shuttle tours made by the leaders of this group inside Egyptian prisons, which led to the release of many of them. According to Saad Haddadi, the delegation includes three researchers from the department concerned with the Middle East and Egypt. Haddadi also said the delegation had asked for the first time to meet with officials of the Ministry of Housing to get some information concerning slums and the right to housing in Egypt. He was asked whether this visit aimed to write a report on Egypt. He affirmed the delegation wants to update some data and information on human rights in Egypt, but it has not been decided yet whether to write a report. He added they had asked to meet officials from the Ministry of Interior in a previous meeting, but they had received no answer. The director of the Egyptian Center for Housing Rights, Manal el-Tayyibi, said a few meetings have taken place with representatives of Amnesty International to discuss the situation of human rights from an economic and social perspective, adding that such rights have not been given great importance compared to political and civil ones. According to her, the delegation affirmed during the latest meeting that there is a new trend inside Amnesty International to pay attention to economic and social rights through an international campaign soon to be launched by the organization itself. She also pointed out that Amnesty International has included Egypt and Palestine in the campaign, adding that it will work on finding solutions to the problem of slums, which she said represent one of the most serious economic and social violations. She then affirmed that during the meeting she had criticized Amnesty International's stance on the Duweika incident, which caused the death of hundreds of people.
