مركز ماعت للدراسات الحقوقية والدستورية

IN THE CONCLUSION OF MAAT CENTER'S PROGRAM (FREEDOM FOR ALL)

JURISTS AND POLITICIANS WARN AGAINST A NEW UNKNOWN LAW OF TERRORISM THAT OVERTHROWS THE FREEDOM THAT REMAINS IN THE AGE OF EMERGENCY

CAIRO, 18 DECEMBER 2006

A number of jurists, politicians and representatives of the civil community organizations and of the different political parties called, in a national unanimity, upon denouncing all forms of violence and terrorism and upon adopting new policies in dealing with the issues of general rights and freedoms of the civilians, instead of talking about more restrictions put down by the authority.

The participants in Maat Center's workshop about ' protecting rights and freedoms between the Emergency Law and Terrorism Combating Law', expressed, in the conclusion of the Center's program ' Freedom For All', their anxiety towards the policies of the current government which wants to pass a new law for combating terrorism without a serious study of the effects of activating the Emergency Law for more than 26 years on general rights and freedoms in Egypt , under the umbrella of group of laws whose interest is only to establish the security values and enhance the role of the security institution at the expense of other state institutions and of respecting rights and freedoms, and this leads to retreating the index of democracy and development and the going up of the index of corruption. This is one of the main reasons behind the breaking out of terrorism that becomes very difficult to identify, define or limit the crimes committed in its context, under the universal and local neglecting of its real reasons.

This was included in the speech of the Center's manager, Mr. Ayman Okail, which he delivered in the opening session of the workshop, after he reviewed the achievements of the Center during a whole year, through its campaign that carries the motto "Freedom for All". In this campaign, the Center was able to offer the possible help for those whose rights are violated, especially the political detainees. In the context of this campaign, the center has received more than 250 cases of the detainees' families, through which the Center realized the reality oh their situations under the absence of the institutional role of the state towards the suffering of these sinless people.

At the ending of the opening speech delivered by Mr. Ayman Okail, he declared that the aim behind the framework is to discuss the question of the extent of the Egyptian community's need for new law for terrorism and of the identity of the actual guarantees that must be included in this law if its passing is an accomplished fact to gain the legal legitimacy.

Dr. Saad El Deen Ibrahem, the manager of Ibn Khaldon Center for Developmental Studies, begins his speech by assuring that struggle is the only way to obtain rights and freedoms. He added that the base in all the constitutions is to restrict the authorities of the governor, and this is lacking in the Egyptian constitution since after 1923constitution and 1954-draft constitution that leaves the practicing of rights and freedoms to law, then we come to see the 1971 constitution as merciful on the outward, but torture on the inward.

During his speech about the comparison between the situation of freedom in Egypt and in other Arab and foreign countries, Dr. Mahmoud Abdel Zaher, the professor of political sciences and the security expert, called, through the work paper he presented, for activating the call of the judicial organizations and parties upon popular participation in studying the effect of the Emergency Law on the Egyptian community, as this is considered a national necessity to overtake any legislative crises. He also assured the importance of carrying out President Husni Mubarak's electoral program as regards putting an end to the emergency case, passing a new law for combating terrorism and ensuring the existence of sound guarantees that respect general rights and freedoms to ensure the continuation of the comprehensive political reform operation in Egypt and all Arab countries.

Dr. Abdel Zaher concluded his speech asserting that Britain and Israel are two countries without written constitution up until now, yet, there are very big differences between them in the constitutional level. While Britain admits the principle of constitutional tradition, we find that Israel, which is established according to individual resolution, admits the legitimacy of the torturing principle as it established an emergency law no. 4 year 1984 which includes the same policy and the ' how' of applying it on the enemies, the members of the Palestinian resistance, but as for the Israeli colonist, we find that it enables him to practice his rights in a way better than that of Egypt nowadays.

Mrs. Saly Samy, the scholar in the International Policy Magazine, presented an offer in which she called upon those who are concerned with putting down laws to put a limited and explicit definition of the concept of terrorism and to limit its crimes before raising the draft law for combating terrorism before the parliament. She also drew attentions to the fact that it is very dangerous to have the law void of defining, condemning and combating the state terrorism as an official way against basic human rights. She as well demanded that there must be a national project for human rights in Egypt that attempts to put an end to legal, political and cultural illiteracy as a base of wider thinking to propagate the culture of human rights.

D. Ahmed Thabet, the professor of political sciences, condemned, through his work paper entitled ' Reforming the criminal justice, a third option' Muslim Brotherhood group which is the other face of the government, drawing attentions to the fact that the religious references adopted by such groups are always completely far away from the modern civil concepts adopted by the state with all its political visions. He also added that Muslim Brotherhood group practices a clear distinction against the Egyptian community and classifies the people on the basis of religion and that it carries out , with its own slogans , religious recommendations that opposes the concept of citizenship which is supported and adopted by all political visions. In addition, Muslim Brotherhood group go far away, with its doubtful classifications, to the extent that it violates women's rights as it sees that the role of the women in the political life does not exceed participating in demonstrations, as it is clear from the declining number of the women nominated in the general elections during the last years on the lists of Muslim Brotherhood group.

The Counsel, Maged El Sherbiny, the member of the Shura Council and the Secretariat-general of the National Party, protested against the accusations directed to the Party regarding its inability of harmony and of reaching a balance state with the objection and other political parties concerning important issues such as the issue of freedom. He added" We are not in the situation of reaction; we are the first t use the term 'citizenship' in 2003. The National Council for Human Rights has departed from the Party, while the Party issues most of the recent legislations, which are considered continuation of reform march; such as canceling the military resolutions, adjusting the political parties law and canceling detention in publishing issues"

Mr. Maged added about the features of the new draft law for combating terrorism that there are not any obscurities about this law; the evidence is that he comes here due to Maat Center's invitation for the National Democratic Party and due to the care of the Secretary General of the Party, Mr.Safwat El Sherif to participate with all the national forces in discussing the important issues of our native home, among of which is the issue of terrorism, and for this reason he accepted the invitation and participated with the Center in the workshop.

Mr. Maged presented the features of the new bill in certain points in which he declared that the committee that was charged with preparing the bill was formed according to a resolution of the Prime Minister, its number is 477 of year 2006, and it is headed by Dr. Mofeed Shehab along with other representatives of the Ministries of Justice, Defense, Interior and The Ministry of Legal Affairs along with group of counsels and specialized university professors. He added that this committee has never passed up till now any vague issues concerning this law, except that the general frame of this committee has the following axes:

-         Studying all the comparative rules in all the states of the world to be under consideration while forming the law

-         Resorting to all the international and legal agreements that Egypt has signed in the context of the United States, Arab League, African Union and the organization of Islamic Conference.

In the context of his speech about whether the new terrorism law will affect the activation of the Emergency Law, Mr. Maged El Sherbiny noted that the new law will not cancel the Emergency Law which will be still existing to confront crises, but the Emergency Law will stop working; that is to say that the law for combating terrorism will work in stead of the continuation of the Emergency Law.

He added that the task of the new law is not just to drive off harm like most of the recent law, but it will further stop any harm or damage before occurring, and that will lead to drying out terrorism sources. He concluded his speech by mentioning what came in the President's program regarding constitutional reforms assuring that there is not any violation in the third of the constitution regarding the guarantee of respecting rights and freedoms and that part of the constitutional reforms will include the authorities entitled to the president. He as well assured that the party is ready to receive all suggestions from all national forces and civil community organizations to convey them to the law makers and that the motive behind the party's participation in the workshop is to share all the national forces to reach balanced recommendations about rights, freedoms and combating terrorism which are accepted by all.

Mr. Sobhy Saleh, member of People's Assembly, presented a work paper through which he expressed his objection to the continuing activating the Emergency Law and putting down a new terrorism law, asserting the inevitable necessity of a comprehensive constitutional reform as what happened in other Arab countries that precede Egypt in political reform. He as well asserted the importance of respecting the citizen.

Mr. Mohammed Abdullah Khalil, the lawyer and judicial activist, considered, in his work paper entitled 'Necessary principles and guarantees to limit or restrict human rights on the light of the international standards', the guarantees that must be available in the democratic community that cares about protecting the individual rights against any illegal, arbitrary or discriminational limitations or restrictions. He put upon the legislative body, represented in the People's Assembly and its majority that belong to the National Party, the responsibility of forming and passing laws that violate the international charters signed by Egypt , as it is clear when the majority of the National Party accepted to extend the activation of the Emergency Law for two coming years and thus to extend bringing its innocent victims before trials in front of extraordinary judgment which disrepute Egypt and its history in one form or the other.

Dr. Ayman Abdel Aziz Salamah, the professor of international law, demanded in his work paper to consider legal standards while detaining the individuals in case of emergency, the most important of which is to mention the reasons and places of detention according to the provisions of the law. He as well called upon activating the supervision on jails to inspect the detainees' situations and to tell them the reasons of their detention and to guarantee that they are in contact with their lawyers and guarantee good treatment away from torturing, individual detention and bad interrogation ways and guarantee human circumstances of detention that ends at immediate and fair trials before the normal judges.

Khaled Ali, the lawyer at Hesham Mubarak's Law Center, criticized, in his work paper entitled ' Emergency case and the law of combating terrorism', the absence of limited and clear sanctions for the deeds that are subject to the Emergency Law, as the aim of the Emergency Law is flexibility and acceleration in punishment measures without adhering to any constitutional rules of protecting rights, freedoms and private ownership. He also pointed out that the bill of combating terrorism, which offered, now by the system does not aim at putting down sanction provisions, but aims at giving wider authorities to the general prosecution after they were restricted to the president or whomever he authorized.

Khalid Ali concluded his speech asserting that what we own of normal legislative arsenal, sanctions, measures, weapons and ammunition...Etc. are quite enough to protect the society and guarantee its security and safety.

Mr. Ayman Okail, Maat Center's management, indicated that the new law for combating terrorism must necessarily respect a number of guarantees, if the parliament agrees on it, as it must not ignore a number of fundamental freedoms' issues and the issue of the detainees; the victims of the Emergency Law and who are not given the chance to stand before their normal judges and thus they must be compensated.

He also demanded that the new law must put a definite definition of terrorism, limit its crimes according to a clear formation that would not contrast the Egyptian constitution and the international charters signed by the state and specify the role of each authority to put an end to terrorism so as to apply the principle of separating between authorities.

Mr. Ayman also declared that the Center adopts training and qualifying programs for the lawyers to defend the detainees' issues, to spread the spirit of voluntary work and propagate the culture of human rights and serving the community, pointing out that the coming plan of the Center shall include lawyers from upper and Mediterranean Sea governorates during the coming years, God Willing.                                               God is the Lord of Success;

THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF MAAT CENTER'S WORKSHOP AT THE END OF 'FREEDOM FOR ALL ' PROGRAM ABOUT 'RESPECTING RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS BETWEEN THE EMERGENCY LAW AND THE LAW FOR COMBATING TERRORISM'

We, the participants in this workshop, after discussions and deliberations about the issues of general freedoms and rights and exceptional law, deliver our thoughts and theses to law makers and the parliament as the body authorized to carry out the Egyptian people's hopes in an effective political life that serves and appreciates the Arab, territorial and universal weight of the nation's interests,

Reach what would be an agreement on the necessity of working to protect general rights and freedoms and of ending the executive authority's monopolizing of regulating the issues of freedoms and democratic practices.

So, we declare:

We are against the continuation of declaring the emergency case and against issuing a new law for combating terrorism that has the same features of the emergency case permanently or the features of the unconstitutional terrorism law no. 97 of year92, but if the new law for combating terrorism is coming inevitably according to the official declarations, so there is no legitimacy without the following guarantees:

-         Putting a definite definition of terrorism that does not contrast any provisions of the Egyptian constitution and the international charters regarding protecting general freedoms and rights, freedom of expression and opinion , demonstrating and gathering and also respecting the democratic principles; the principle of the independence of authorities and the sovereignty of the law.

-         Limiting and restricting the terrorism crimes according to an explicit formation that agrees with the principle of generalizing law.

-         Assuring the guarantee that every citizen has the right to stand before his normal judge and preventing referring to any of the forms of the extraordinary judgment.

-         Stipulating clearly the severe sanctions on the torturing committed by the men of public authority.

-         Imposing clear sanctions in case of violating the guarantees mentioned in the provisions of this law, even if one of the men of public authority committed the violation.

-         Until the law for combating terrorism is issued, or the Emergency Law is cancelled, all the state authorities must apply what mentioned in the provisions of the Emergency Law and must respect the guarantees in it.

Before any thing, we demanded:

-To allow all political national forces, without exception, to participate in discussing the suggestions of the bills of combating terrorism before it is issued by the People's Assembly.

- To accelerate releasing all the political detainees who were detained according to detention rules which violate the provisions of the constitution and the law, and to force the system to apologize officially for them and to guarantee that they would obtain the appropriate compensation.

The Speakers

The Name

The Body

Mr. Ayman Okail

The manager of Maat Center for Judicial and Constitutional Studies

Dr. Saad El Deeen Ibrahem

The manager of Ibn Khaldon Center for Developmental Studies

Dr. Ayman Salamah

The Professor of General International Law

Mrs. Saly Samy

The scholar in the International Policy Magazine and the manager of the programs of Arab Network for Human Rights' Information

Dr. Mohamed Abdel Zaher

The professor of political sciences and history And The security strategic expert

Dr. Atef Labib El Nagmy

Lawyer And the head of the Arab Defense Association

Mr. Sobhy Saleh

Member of the People's Assembly And Of the bar association

Dr. Ahmed Thabet

The Professor of political sciences and the manager of Ibn Roshd Center for Development and Human Rights

Mr. Gamal Adbel Aziz

Lawyer and the Manager of Arab Network for Human Rights' Information

Mr. Khaled Ali

Lawyer in Hesham Mubarak Law Center

Mohamed Abdullah Khalil

Lawyer and judicial activist.

The Participants in the Workshop

Mr. Maged Mahmoud

Member of the People's Assembly and of the Secretariat-general of the Party

Mr. Mohammed Zarea

The Arab Organization

Mr. Essam Shehah

'El Wafd' Party

Mr. Ali Hassan Sebaq

Bar association

Mr. Salah El Deen El Soyofy

A journalist

Mr. Mohamed Hussen Shalaby

The Association of Legal Assistance for Constitutional Rights- El Mansourah

Mrs. Wafaa Hanafy Sahab

Lawyer in the Court of Appeal

Mr. Hamdy Abdel Aziz

' Sawasyah' Center

Mr. Al Amir Gad El Krim

The Head of the Egyptian Center for Human Rights

Mr. Ahmed Kamel

' El Wefaq' Party

Mr. Mustsfs Madbouly

' El Wefaq' Party

Mr. Tarek Mohammed Ahmed

' Misr El Fatah ' Party

Mr. Maged Soror

One World Institution

Mr. Ashraf Hassan Hamed

Employee in Shura Council

Mrs. Huda El Badry

The Egyptian Union Organization for Human Rights

Mrs. Rasha Ahmed Mahmoud

' El Ahrar' Party

Mr. Mohammed Samir Mousa

The Manager of One World's developmental programs

Mr. Ahmed Mohyee El Deen Hamed

Human Development Association

Mrs. Nesreen Askar

' El Wafd ' Party

Mr. Mohamed Farid Zakarya

' El Ahrar' Party , member of Shura Council

Mr. Alaa Abdel Latif Mansour

The 'signed' of the speakers of Muslim Brotherhood

Mr. Maged Mounir Malak

' Misr El Fatah' Party

Mrs. Inas Salim

The Manager of Legal Assistance Unit In Maat Center for judicial and Constitutional Studies

   Maat for juridical and constitutional studies

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