CAIRO: The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) called on Tuesday for sacking the Prosecutor General Abdel Meguid Mahmoud, describing it as an "urgent necessity" to restore confidence in the prosecution. "The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) as the current ruler of the country can sack the Prosecutor General and appoint another one," Gamal Eid, head of ANHRI, said at a press conference. "But we hope the Prosecutor General senses that the people don't want him and resigns on his own," he added. ANHRI issued a 17-page report on Sunday explaining the reasons behind its call. The report discusses the Prosecutor General's practices before and after the Jan. 25 uprising, citing indications of lack of transparency and integrity while investigating certain cases which prove the prosecutor's bias towards the former corrupt regime. ANHRI's legal Councilor, Taher Abou El-Nasr, noted that sacking the prosecutor General wouldn't affect the ongoing trials of former interior minister Habib Al-Adly and ousted president Hosni Mubarak. "On the contrary, I believe it would hasten the trials and help refer other corrupt police officers and officials to court," he said. According to the report, a complaint filed against General Hussein Saied — for deleting data on a CD including the phone calls of the Central Security Forces operations room which he headed during the Jan. 25 uprising — was ignored by the prosecution. Saied was included as a witness in Al-Adly's case instead, the report added. Eid said that he and other ANHRI staff may be detained for making such a demand because freedom of expression and justice have not been truly implemented on the ground yet. "We are no better than the innocent civilians who were detained for expressing their opinions," he said. ANHRI filed a complaint to the United Nations Commission for the Independence of the Judiciary against the Prosecutor General. However, this commission can only exert moral pressure on the government, according to Eid. ANHRI handled over 300 lawsuits since Mahmoud held his post, mostly against bloggers and citizens whose crime was "expressing their opinion peacefully" and criticizing the government. The report held the prosecutor responsible for investigating these cases and pressing charges. It cited the appointment of police academy graduates and former police officers at the prosecutor's office as further evidence that its integrity is questionable. In April 2009, blogger Ahmed Mohamed was arrested from his home after security forces broke in and charged him with "using the prevalent democratic climate to overthrow the regime," according to the report. ANHRI ridiculed the charges describing them as "black comedy." On Feb. 6, 2009, blogger Diaa Gad was also arrested outside his house in Tanta, because of his criticism of Mubarak during the Israeli war on Gaza which ended in January 2009. Gad wasn't released until March 2009 and ANHRI lawyers weren't allowed to see Gad or defend him during this period. Even after the Jan. 25 uprising succeeded in toppling Mubarak, Abdel Meguid's practices continued, according to ANHRI. The report stated that many officers and security officials accused of killing peaceful protesters remain in their posts, while no charges have been filed against them. ANHRI added that this gave the officers the opportunity to pressure the martyrs' families and coerce them into dropping the charges. "Assistant security chief in Darb Al-Ahmar police station, Ahmed El-Shazly is accused of killing seven people including my son and yet he was transferred to a police station in Heliopolis and remains free," mother of martyr Ibrahim Aly Saleh, said at the conference. She said that El-Shazly tried to pay her off to drop the case against him, but she refused. The report also cited complaints filed by the martyrs' families, calling for suspending officers and security officials accused of killing their children. Sayed Abdel Latif, father of martyr Mohmed, filed a complaint against security officials in April including Hossam Fawzy, a policeman in North Giza, Mohamed Mukhtar, former police detective at Imbaba police station, and Mohamed Adly, former investigations assistant at the same police station. He accused the officials of offering bribes to the families to force them to drop the cases. Mukhtar and Adly have both been transferred to other police stations including El-Haram and Giza and no action has been taken against them. On Jan. 26, Mohamed Mostafa was arrested at a protest in front of the lawyers' syndicate and brutally tortured at the State Security Investigations headquarters in Lazougly for 19 hours before he was released. "The prosecution told me, ‘May God retrieve your right if you have any,' when I filed the complaint about my torture," Mostafa said. Mostafa's mother said "my son came to me almost dead after he was tortured." "I couldn't get any public hospital to accept him or write an official report about his medical condition," she added. Mostafa's complaint hasn't been investigated until today. "The families of the martyrs and human rights organizations need to feel that justice is being served," Eid said.
