Document - Sweden/Egypt: Further information on Forcible Return/ Risk of Torture, Muhammad Muhammad Suleiman Ibrahim El-Zari, Ahmed Hussein Mustafa Kamil Agiza

PUBLICAI Index: MDE 12/003/2002

22 January 2002

Further information on UA 324/01 (MDE 12/035/2001, 19 December 2001) and follow-up (MDE 12/001/2002, 10 January 2002) - forcible return/risk of torture

SWEDEN/EGYPTHanan Ahmed Fouad ‘Abd al-Khaleq (f), ]married

Ahmed Hussein Mustafa Kamil Agiza (m), aged 39]

and their five children

Muhammad Muhammad Suleiman Ibrahim El-Zari (m), aged 33

The Swedish Migration Board has suspended the expulsion order against Hanan Ahmed Fouad ‘Abd al-Khaleq and her five children. Their decision, announced on 18 January 2002, followed a request by the United Nations Committee against Torture that they not be returned to Egypt until the whereabouts and treatment of Ahmed Hussein Mustafa Kamil Agiza is known.

Following the decision by the Migration Board, Hanan Ahmed Fouad ‘Abd al-

Khaleq and her children came out of hiding. Speaking to Amnesty International today, she thanked the organization for its continued support and help.

There has been no news of Ahmed Hussein Mustafa Kamil Agiza and Muhammad Muhammad Suleiman Ibrahim El-Zari since they were returned to Egypt on 18 December 2001. Their relatives and lawyers have persisted in asking the Egyptian authorities for details of their whereabouts and for permission to visit them, but without success. Amnesty International fears that the two men continue to be held in incommunicado detention, at grave risk of torture and ill-treatment.

Many thanks to all those who sent appeals. Appeals on behalf of Hanan Ahmed Fouad ‘Abd al-Khaleq and her children are no longer needed. However, please send a final round of appeals on behalf of Muhammad Muhammad Suleiman Ibrahim El-Zari and Ahmed Hussein Mustafa Kamil Agiza. Amnesty International will continue longer-term campaigning on their behalf

FURTHER RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in English, Swedish or Arabic as appropriate, or in your own language:

To the Swedish authorities:

- urging that they find out where Muhammad Muhammad Suleiman Ibrahim El-

Zari and Ahmed Hussein Mustafa Kamil Agiza are held in Egypt, and to ensure that representatives of the Swedish embassy in Egypt meet with the two men to find out how they have been treated, and ensure that they have access to legal counsel;

- stressing that the forcible return of any person to a country where they are at risk of serious human rights violations is a violation of Sweden’s obligations under the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

APPEALS TO:

Prime Minister Göran Persson

Prime Minister’s Office

SE-103 33 Stockholm

Sweden

Fax: + 46 8 723 11 71

E-mail: registrator@primeminister.ministry.se

Salutation:Dear Prime Minister

Foreign Minister Anna Lindh

Ministry for Foreign Affairs

Box 161 21

SE-103 39 Stockholm

Sweden

Fax: + 46 8 723 11 76

E-mail: registrator@foreign.ministry.se

Salutation:Dear Minister

Ambassador Sven G. Linder

Embassy of Sweden

13, Mohamed Mazhar Street

PO Box 131

11211 Zamalek

Egypt

Fax: +20 2 735 43 57

E-mail:ambassaden.kairo@foreign.ministry.se

Salutation:Your Excellency

COPIES TO diplomatic representatives of Sweden accredited to your country.

To the Egyptian authorities:

- urging them to disclose the whereabouts of Muhammad Muhammad Suleiman Ibrahim and Ahmed Hussein Mustafa Kamil Agiza;

- calling on them to ensure that the two men are being humanely treated in detention and that they are given access to legal counsel and relatives as well as representatives of the Swedish authorities;

- reminding the government of the absolute prohibition on torture in customary international law and of their commitment to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in particular Article 5: "No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment".

APPEALS TO:

His Excellency Mohammad Hosni Mubarak

President of the Arab Republic of Egypt

‘Abedine Palace, Cairo, Egypt

Telegram:President Mubarak, Cairo, Egypt

E-mail:webmaster@presidency.gov.eg

Fax:+ 202 390 1998

Telex:93794 WAZRA UN

Salutation:Your Excellency

His Excellency General Habib al-’Adeli

Minister of the Interior

Ministry of the Interior