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Article 10 of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) stipulates
that “all persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with
humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the person”. It
further states that “the penitentiary system shall comprise treatment of
prisoners the essential aim of which shall be their reformation and social
rehabilitation. Juvenile offenders shall be segregated from adults and be
accorded treatment appropriate to their age and legal status”.
In
addition, Article 42 of the Egyptian Constitution and Article 40 of the
Criminal Procedures Code state that any citizen who is arrested or whose
liberty is restricted in any way, must be treated in a human way. (S)He
should not be subjected to physical or psychological harm.
Although Egypt has been party to the ICCPR since 1982, many laws and regulations governing prisons still include text that contravenes the provisions of international human rights standards and the Egyptian Constitution. Following are the most significant of these laws and regulations:
Law 396 of 1956 on prisons
In
addition, Egyptian prisons are in a state of extreme deterioration, with
many collapsing. Over-crowding, poor living conditions and the lack of
medical care have resulted in increasing deaths in prisons in the last two
years. Moreover, the spread of drugs resulted in the increase of drug
addiction cases.
On
the other hand, prisons populations are segregated into classes. Rich
inmates are allowed to maintain high living standards and enjoy expensive
food and refreshments. They even have other inmates serve and protect
them. Others live in extremely poor conditions, deprived of their minimum
rights to the extent that some of them resort to selling their own blood
to get the money they need. One prisoner reportedly sold his blood 107
times over a period of eight years.
Thus, penal institutions in Egypt have become places where inmates learn crime, making it crucially important to work towards changing prison conditions. Hence lies the importance of the Human Rights Center for the Assistance of the Prisoners. The center hopes to undertake this difficult task through the program presented in the following activity plan.
Current
Programs:
1- Fieldwork
HRCAP
monitors the legal and human rights violations to which prisoners and
detainees are subjected, and prepares reports on the findings. (Please
refer to the attached table for a monthly schedule of activities.) The
activities of this project are not only focused on prisoners and
detainees, but on their benefit (particularly lawyers).
In order to achieve this, the
project employs the following methods:
1a-
Collection of complaints
The filing of individual complaints provides a benefit not only for the individual, but also for the system as a whole (based on the precedence set by successful cases). For this reason, fieldwork activities gather information on, and file cases on behalf of, individual complaints. This information is gathered in several ways:
Direct
complaints, submitted by prisoners and/or their families.
1b-
Field Visits to Prisons
Over a one-year period, HRCAP conducts an average of 200 visits to selected prisons to monitor violations of legal and human rights, to ascertain the veracity of these complaints. These visits are conducted by the center’s lawyers, with specific prisons selected based upon the level of complaints submitted by prisoners, their families and lawyers. Each visit takes approximately four days, generally divided as follows: one day for the prison visit and two days for visits to families and lawyers.
In order to conduct these visits, HRCAP lawyers must first secure permission from the relevant authorities. In the case of detainees, this is the mandate of the Office of the Prosecutor. According to regulations, the victim must file complaints of torture, where visits are not possible in order to obtain the necessary information, a member of the prison staff is required to take the prisoners statement, and provide it to the lawyer. For complaints filed by a family member or a lawyer (either for violations against these parties, or non-torture complaints by prisoners), a personal appointment is made with the concerned prisoners.
HRCAP lawyers make every attempt to verify the accusations, taking statements from the concerned prisoners, eyewitnesses and prison administration. Cases that cannot be verified are dismissed. Based on the information gathered, the lawyer prepares a report and recommendation for action. Where recommended, cases are pursued through the penal and judicial system.
The center makes every effort to focus its attention on the most infamous prisons, known for their violations against both ordinary convicts and prisoners of conscience. Based on our experience, we have been able to determine the most infamous prisons, divided among three population categories (please see attached).
The complaints are further divided into three general categories according to the violations: those committed against prisoners and/or detainees, those committed against lawyers and those committed against prisoners' families.
1c
Family Visits
Field visits are also carried out with families, in order to ascertain and document the consequential effects on family members. These effects include the loss of income caused by the head of the household’s imprisonment, and the increased costs incurred by the imprisonment (including the cost of caring for the prisoner, and legal fees). They also include the social stigma attached to imprisonment, in a social environment that does not differentiate between common criminals and prisoners of conscience, and the breakdown in the family structure brought on by economic and psychological pressures.
1d.Follow Up
Once
the HRCAP lawyer has recorded the complaint, and collected all available
information, (S)he prepares a report including his recommendation. If the
complaint is found to be verifiable, (S) he will also file an official
complaint. This complaint is sent to the relevant Prison Warden, the
Prosecutor General and the Minister of the Interior. The center allows
fifteen days for response from the authorities. If they begin an
investigation, the center will follow the investigation until its
conclusion. If however, no action is taken within fifteen days, the case
will be filed with the center, to be included in its general report, and
for follow-up by the legal assistance team (please see below)
1e.
Reporting
As mentioned above, all verifiable complaints for which the center
receives no response from the authorities are filed in a general report.
The main objective of this report is to expose these violations to the
censure of public opinion. The reports are also submitted to the relevant
authorities as part of the center's on- going campaign to draw attention
to these issues. It is hoped that this campaign will mobilize public
opinion and build pressure to rectify the appalling state of Egyptian
Prisons.
The center produces an average of nine reports each year, using our casework to provide supporting documentation. These reports provide a way to monitor the state of prisoners and violations against prisoners, detainees, families and lawyers. Regular reports focus on issues such as health and living conditions, prohibitions against education, visiting and torture.
Each report is prepared in Arabic and translated into English. They are then distributed (according to relevant language) among local and international media, the general public and prison and governmental authorities. The center also holds occasional discussion session to discuss the recommendations of the reports in order to bring these issues to the forefront of public discourse.
2. Legal Assistance
The second major activity of the center is the provision of legal assistance. Where fieldwork focuses on the identification and verification of complaints, this component seeks to achieve legal resolution to the problems identified by fieldwork investigations.
2a. Types of Cases
Cases
brought to the center's legal assistance department come from two sources;
they are either the result of referrals from the fieldwork legal team, or
the self- referrals of prisoners, their lawyers and/or families. The
center files an average of 200 lawsuits per year, with the majority of the
caseload being classified as follows:
2b.Procedure for lawsuits
The center requires the services of both external and staff lawyers (the same in-house legal team who works on the field visits). External lawyers handle about 20 cases each per year, and are responsible for court attendance. The in- house team is responsible for the coordination of the activities of these external lawyers, providing referrals and background information on each case, coordinating contact between complainants and lawyers. The center covers the costs of each case.
As mentioned above, the center collects all verifiable complaints, and submits them to the Warden, the Prosecutor General and the Ministry of the Interior. These authorities are given 15 days to initiate an investigation. If after the lapse of these fifteen days no serious action has been taken, the center will refer the case to the external lawyer. The center will provide the lawyer with all relevant information and arrange for the complainant to provide the power of attorney needed for the lawyer to present the complaint to the relevant court. The lawyer will be responsible for follow-up and court attendance until a verdict is given – a process which takes an average of one year
If the verdict is not in the complainant’s favor, the lawyer will file an appeal, according to the rules of the Egyptian legal system. If, however, the verdict is in favor of the complainant, the lawyer will attempt to see the verdict implemented. It must be noted that implementation cannot be taken for granted, since more often than not the authorities refuse to comply with the courts decision. The pursuance of implementation requires that the authorities first be notified of the verdict, and of the timeline for compliance. Once the timeline elapses, the lawyer must attempt to see the verdict implemented. If this fails, a second lawsuit is raised against the individual who refused to comply (this is usually the final step, as it is usually successful).
2c. Reporting
HRCAP
will prepare one report every six months (total of two reports annually)
to provide the general public, and relevant officials with information on
the results of the cases. It is hoped that the presentation of this
information will raise the level of public awareness
about the issues of concern regarding violations of the rights of
prisoners and detainees, thereby building public opinion to seek reform.
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