مركز ماعت للدراسات الحقوقية والدستورية

FOR THE SAKE OF RESPECTING RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS

01/11/2006

Maat Center for Judicial and Constitutional Studies announces its deep concern regarding the resolution issued by the Court Martial in 31-10-2006 , which decides to imprison the representative Talaat El Sadat , the member of the People's Assembly , for a year with labor due to his declarations to some papers and space channels in which he expresses his view about the assassination of his uncle, the ex-president, Anwar El Sadat year 1981, and demands the Security bodies to open anew the file of the case to reinvestigate in it.

It is worth mentioning that this judgment is considered a violation of the principles of democracy and the sovereignty of the law and it affects the respect of the right to express opinion and views, the right, which is guaranteed by the international conventions and the constitution, especially for the Members in the Parliament, as they are the representatives of the people, according to articles 98 and 99 of the current constitution which authorized to the Members of Parliament a parliamentary immunity that guarantees this right. If there is any justification of bringing this case before the martial judgment , it will be under the dedication of extraordinary cases, upon which the system insists under the umbrella of preserving one of the forms of Security , which is preserving the dignity of the martial institution , even if this is done regardless of the fair trial which is guaranteed by the international conventions for human rights and by the provisions of the recent Egyptian constitution that concern with the citizen's right to stand before his ordinary judge instead of the extraordinary court that is instituted to punish one accused only, and also his legal right to appeal the judgment issued against him , as long as there are reasons for his appeal and the judgment is spoiled by some defect.

In addition, the acceleration of the procedures of this case, as it takes from the Public Prosecutor General until the court martial has issued the judgment one month or less, arouses a lot of tension especially if we knew that the Public Prosecution's roll is accumulated with plenty of cases which actually represent real violation of law, yet the Public Prosecution does not care about them. On the contrary, it gives great concern to this case (the case of Talaat El Sadat) which has the political shape and which does not represent any real or explicit violation of law committed by Talaat El Sadat, except that he has expressed the truth which is supposed to be guaranteed by the constitution, if not the system considers the right to express the truth freely is a violation of law.

Therefore, in the framework of the Center's support of freedom of view and expression, the Center united in solidarity with those who appeal to the president, as the martial ruler, not to ratify this judgment to protect and save rights and freedoms. The Center calls upon the civil community organizations that concerns with the subject to stick together with the Center's calls and demands in order to settle the values of democracy and to respect the sovereignty of law.



   Maat for juridical and constitutional studies

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