AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

Public Statement

AI Index: MDE 12/029/2007 (Public)

News Service No: 175

12 September 2007

Egypt: Dissolving human rights centre further erodes right to freedom of association

Amnesty International today condemned the Egyptian government's decision to dissolve the Association for Human rights and Legal Aid (AHRLA) as a new blow to freedom of association and called on the authorities to end such practices. The organization said such measures do not bode well for the forthcoming amendments to the law on associations.

The attack on AHRLAappears to be linked to its active work in supporting victims of torture and exposing human rights violations in Egypt. The Association has been providing legal advice to victims of such violations, in particular to those who have been tortured while in custody at police stations or other detention centres, including by representing them before Egyptian courts. One of these victims is political detainee Mohamed Abdelkader al-Sayyed, who died in police custody in 2003 in circumstances suggesting that torture or other ill-treatment led or contributed to his death at the hands of an officer of the State Security Investigations (SSI). SSI officers have been allowed to commit serious human rights violations with impunity. Despite a forensic report stating that the injuries to the body of Mohamed Abdelkader al-Sayyed at the time of his death were consistent with injuries that can be sustained by being hit by solid objects and by exposure to high temperature or electric shocks, the SSI officer who was allegedly responsible for his death was acquitted by a Cairo criminal court on 5 September 2007.

Although AHRLA has not yet received a written decision, it has learnt that it will be dissolve for breaching Article 17(2) of Law 84 of 2002, known as the NGOs law, which prohibits the receipt of funds without permission from the Ministry of Social Solidarity. A committee from the Cairo Governorate is expected to go to AHRLA’s office in the morning of 16 September 2007 to dissolve the Association.

Charges of receiving foreign funds without authorization were brought against other human rights defenders in the past in an attempt to intimidate them. Hafez Abu Seada, Secretary General of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights, and Saad Eddin Ibrahim, Director of the Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies, were charged with receiving foreign funds without the authorities’ permission, in 1998 and 2000 respectively. Both were later acquitted by the courts. Criticism of the strict regulations on foreign funding in Egypt has been expressed by the UN Committee for Economic Social and Cultural Rights in relation to the now defunct Association Law (Law 153 of 1999). In addition, in November 2002, the UN Human Rights Committee expressed similar concerns and called on Egypt to “review its legislation and practice in order to enable non-governmental organizations to undertake their attributions without obstacles which are inconsistent with provisions of article 22 of the Covenant, such as prior approval, control of funding and administrative dissolution.”

The alarming attack against AHRLA comes a few weeks after the Ministry of Social Solidarity, citing “security reasons”, refused on 14 August 2007 to officially register the Centre for Trade Unions and Human Affairs (formerly known as the Centre for Trade Union and Workers Services, whose offices were closed in April 2007). Such worrying developments happen at a time when Egyptian human rights organizations await amendments to the already restrictive Law 84 of 2002 on NGOs amongst fears that the authorities are seeking to further restrict and control their activities through increased administrative measures, purportedly for security reasons.

By closing down the AHRLA offices, the Egyptian authorities are not only breaching their obligations to respect the right to freedom of association, but also preventing torture victims from receiving valuable independent advice and legal aid in support of their rights.

Amnesty International calls on the Egyptian authorities to immediately rescind the decisions to dissolve AHRLA and lift any other restrictions imposed on it to allow the association to provide much needed assistance in defence of human rights. The organization said that the planned amendments to the law on association must give more, not less, freedom to NGOs to enable them to carry out their work in defence of human rights without fear of intimidation or imprisonment. As a newly elected member of the UN Human Rights Council, Egypt must uphold its international human rights obligations not further undermine them.

For more information see:

Egypt: Closing workers advice centre against protecting workers’ rights, 26 April 2007. (AI Index: MDE 12/015/2007)

http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE120152007?open&of=ENG-EGY