CAIRO: During a conference held at the Journalists Syndicate Monday, journalists and civil rights activists lashed out against the impotence of the Egyptian embassy in Kuwait regarding the mistreatment of Egyptians in Kuwaiti prisons. The conference was attended by former prisoners and their families who complained of gross mistreatment, amounting to torture, of Egyptians often held without charge for months. Heading the conference was Salwa Elwan, a journalist at El-Osbou newspaper, who said that the main reason behind the mistreatment of Egyptians was the guarantor (kafil) system that strips employees and workers in Gulf countries of their passports and effectively their rights. The system allows foreign nationals to work in Kuwait under a sponsorship contract with a Kuwaiti national, where the guarantor is obliged to provide them with housing and to report them to authorities if they broke the law. This system has been repeatedly criticized by international human rights organizations as opening the doors for human rights violations by effectively allowing the sponsor to breach the terms of the original contract with impunity. Attending the conference was Wael Shedid, a lawyer and former prisoner who had worked in Kuwait as an electrician under a contract certified by both the Egyptian foreign ministry and the labor authority. The contract entitled him to a monthly salary of 400 Kuwaiti dinars (KD). However, upon his arrival his passport and the original copy of the contract were taken from him under the pretext of completing residency documents. He relayed the poor working conditions he later faced; how his job description was downgraded and his salary slashed to 70 KD despite working 16 hours a day. Two months later, when he objected, he was accused of inciting a strike and was arrested without evidence of having committed any labor violations. "Many of the over 100 Egyptians held in prison were subjected to beatings, electrocution, bone breaking, said Shedid, "and had no recourse to a lawyer or contact with the outside world save for mobile phones smuggled and hidden in prison. Several attendees harshly denounced the negligence of the Egyptian embassy and consulate, which did nothing to protect Egyptian citizens. One Egyptian who died in prison, related one of the attendees, was left for three days before the embassy took care of his documents and he was flown back to Egypt at his family's expense. By contrast, the Turkish ambassador personally attended to the case of a Turkish national who died behind bars and whose body was flown back his country within 24 hours. Yehia Gazzaz, a member of Kefaya, said that the aim of this conference was not to attack the Kuwaiti government and the oil-rich country's royal family, but rather to put an end to these human rights violations. "We're not demanding special treatment, said Gazzaz, "just the application of the existing laws. He placed the blame squarely on the shoulders of exploitative employers and the inefficiency of the Egyptian embassy.
