Within the frame of the Center’s follow up of the 24 Egyptian citizens’ case in Libya, who are facing execution penalty issued by the Libyan judiciary, the Center addressed its second call to the Libyan President in order to stop the execution of one of the Egyptian citizens who is waiting for his execution tomorrow on Sunday May 28, 2007, his name is Emad Abd El-Wahed Mohamed Ali.
The center noted in its letter to what the Libyan President issued last year, when he issued directions related to the abolition of death penalty in Libya, and the Libyan Judiciary Council’s approval on these directions.
Worth mentioning that the Center called up on the Libyan President to the execution of the up mentioned citizen, in order to complete the conciliation procedures with the victims’ families, specially that some civil society institutions in Egypt and Libya have proceed taken the needed conciliation procedures.
In the view of the fact that the Libyan Government is tending to abolish the death penalty, the Center hopes that those convicted Egyptian persons should benefit from this tendency, which will put Libya in the level of the developed countries that abolish death penalty, as it is one of the cruel penalties. The Center hopes that the Libyan President would response to these calls to stop the death penalty against 24 Egyptian citizens, in addition it hopes that the Egyptian Ministry of foreign affairs should intensify its efforts to protect Egyptian’s right of life out side Egypt.
The Arab Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession (ACIJLP) expresses its extreme concern that the location in which Syrian lawyer Mohamed Raadoun, director of the Arab Center for Human Rights in Syria is being detained, has not been disclosed. Raadoun was detained by the Syrian security authorities on the 22nd May 2005 without been giving any reasons for his arrest, and without being presented with any charges.
ACIJLP has strong suspicions that Raadoun has been subject to torture and inhumane, humiliating treatment, in particular since the Syrian authorities refuse to reveal where he is being detained and are holding him incommunicado; they are preventing him from contacting his family or consulting a lawyer.
ACIJLP holds the Syrian authorities responsible for ensuring Raadoun’s physical wellbeing and guaranteeing that he enjoys his right to life, freedom and personal security.
ACIJLP points out that the Syrian authorities’ treatment of Raadoun represents a violation of Syria’s international obligations and a clear infringement of related international instruments, in particular article 3 of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, articles 9(1) and 9(2) of the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights and article 1 of the United Nations basic principles on the role of lawyers. ACIJLP expresses its solidarity with Raadoun and asks the working group on arbitrary detention, the special rapporteur on torture and the special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, mechanisms established by the Commission on Human Rights, to uncover Raadoun’s fate and what he has been subject to .
The crisis involving 24 Egyptian nationals sentenced to death in Libya in September 2006 is still ongoing, and continues to receive insufficient attention from the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs: twelve Egyptians sentenced to death will be executed over the course of the coming week in the absence of effective intervention by the Ministry. The twelve men are:
Name
Governorate
Shaher Nagdy Abdel Rahim
Sharqeyya
Mohamed Abdel Rahim al Shafei Abdel Rahim
Sharqeyya
Samy Fathy Abd Rabu
Sharqeyya
Hegazy Ahmed Zeydan
Daqheleyya
Farouq Abdel Rahman Mohamed Alam
Cairo
Emmad Abdel Wahed Mohamed Ali
Cairo
Hamed Eid Abdel Aleem
Beni Suef
Ihab Maged Mohamed Hamed
Ismaileyya
Ahmed Mahrous Ahmed el Bandary
Gharbeyya
Hassan Mohamed Hassan Waguih
Cairo
Moussa Abdallah Ibrahim el Touny
Menya
Samir Mokhtar Abdel Rahman
Cairo
Seven of those sentenced to death were convicted of committing crimes against other Egyptian nationals in Libya. The Egyptian government agreed to their being sent to Egypt, but the Egyptian embassy in Libya did not offer any form of cooperation in order to conclude this procedure – despite the fact that Libyan civil society groups demonstrated a clear willingness to solve this crisis by paying compensation on behalf of the men to the relatives of the victims. Implementation of the death sentences was stopped, in accordance with Libyan law. They were also prepared that the men be sent to Egypt, and sent letters to the Egyptian embassy in Libya in order that the Libyan and Egyptian governments liaise on the matter. The embassy provided gave no response, and embassy officials have still not carried out an official visit to those sentenced to death.
Relatives of the convicted men say that a meeting was held between the Egyptians sentenced to death and the director of the Libyan General Directorate of the Judicial Police who seemed prepared to deport the convicted men. He sent a letter to this effect to the Egyptian embassy in Libya, which resolutely pursued its policy of giving no response.
Those sentenced to death sent a letter to the Egyptian ambassador urging him to intervene and appoint a liaison person to represent the Egyptian embassy in Libya responsible for carrying out deportation procedures in coordination with Libyan officials. However, according to the complainants, the Egyptian government did not respond to this letter.
The Arab Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession (ACIJLP) urges Libyan civil society organisations to pursue their lobbying and expend all efforts in order to halt the implementation of the death sentences.
ACIJLP holds the Ministry of Foreign Affairs responsible for intervening with the Libyan government in order to stop the implementation of these death sentences. It must intervene immediately in order to bring about a reconciliation between relatives of the victims and the convicted men and act swiftly and without delay in order to stop the implementation of the death sentences. Their action is particularly warranted in view of Libyan civil society support for this case.
ACIJLP urges His Excellency the Libyan President and His Excellency the Egyptian President to personally intervene in order to stop the implementation of these sentences until reconciliation attempts – which require time – have been carried out.
The Arab Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession (ACIJLP) is extremely concerned by the Qatari authorities’ decision to strip 600 Qatari nationals – members of the Al Ghafran tribe – of their nationality. This decision is a flagrant violation of international human rights instruments, particularly article 15 of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and article 12 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The decision seems to have been taken in order collectively punish the tribe following a 1996 coup attempt carried out by some of its members. If it was indeed taken for this reason, it violates widely acknowledged and implemented principles of criminal justice including the principle individual criminal responsibility. This decision is therefore a crime against humanity as embodied in the founding statute of the International Criminal Court – persecution of a specific group of the population.
Increasing ACIJLP’s concern about this decision is the fact that its true motive may have been to banish members of the tribe from Qatar – which represents another crime falling within the ICC’s jurisdiction, that of forcible transfer of a section of the population.
ACIJLP points out that the Qatari citizens against whom this decision was issued have not been charged with any offence, and nor have they been brought before any legal body for investigation or trial.
ACIJLP urges the concerned international bodies – especially United Nations Human Rights Commission to call on the Qatari authorities to reverse this decision.
ACIJLP equally urges the Qatari authorities to renounce this decision and honour its fundamental obligation to guarantee its citizens’ rights and freedoms in implementation of their rights under international instruments.
The Egyptian government, has banned – without giving any reasons why – the holding of a workshop for Iraqi activists holding legal qualifications. The planned workshop had been organized by the International Union of Lawyers, whose headquarters is in London, in co-operation with the Arab Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession..
The International Union of Lawyers convened six training workshops for judges, lawyers and prosecutors in the United Arab Emirates in 1994.
The administrative board of both the Union and the ACIJLP considered Cairo the natural choice for holding this workshop (without the Egyptian government having to bear any financial costs) because of Egypt’s leading role in the Arab region. The training and assistance of countries in the Arab region in all fields is an extension of this role.
It was planned that the programe for Iraqi lawyers would provide training on international human rights instruments with the aim of preparing them as trainers in the region. They would then go on to provide support for Iraqi rights activists in Iraq, educate them about international standards and spread a culture of human rights.
The Arab Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession (ACIJLP) signed a protocol of cooperation with the Iraqi Bar Association.
This protocol aims at coordination and cooperation between ACIJL and Iraqi bar in the field of organizing training courses, workshops and activities for distributing human rights education. Moreover, they are going to have joint consultation and exchanging views on issues relevant to status of justice particularly, independence of judiciary and legal profession. In addition to this, they’re going to issue statements on joint views regarding justice and human rights and to address governmental, non-governmental institutions and regional and international organizations about co-points towards human, national and local questions.
Both associations signed this protocol in the framework of the significance of role of civil societies on defense of basic rights and freedoms in order to create aware human society and responsible for protection of his rights. Accordingly, such society is going to plant rules and concepts of human rights that will reflect on his practice.
Mr. Nasser Amin, Director General of ACIJLP and Mr. Malek Dohan Al-Hasan, President of Iraqi Bar, signed the cooperation protocol.
