Cairo – March 4^th, 2008

Press Release

Egyptian and International Judges and Activists Participate in A Workshop on "Activating the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights" 

Today, Hurghada witnessed the end the activities of the workshop organized by the Arab Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession (ACIJLP) in cooperation with the International Bar Association (IBA), on "activating the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)" March 4th - 6th 2008.

20 activists and judges, from both ordinary courts and State Council Judiciary participated in the activities of the workshop.

Both Judge Howard Morrison (UK) who works as chief judge, an expert in the international criminal trials former attorney general and Queen’s Counsel, and Judge Finn Lynghjem (Norway) who is currently engaged as an International Judge of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Appellate Division for War Crimes) participated in the activities of the workshop. Moreover, Prof. Dr. Ayman Salama (professor of international law – Nasser Academy) and Mr. Nasser Amin, director of the Arab Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession (ACIJLP) participated in the activities of the workshop from the Egyptian side.

Over three consecutive days, the workshop dealt with the debate on the rights mentioned in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, particularly the human rights in the field of justice establishment and fair and just trial.

This workshop came within the framework of four workshops and seminars that will be organized by the Centre throughout 2008, by a fund from the European Union aiming at activating the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ratified by Egypt in January 14th1982 and published in the official gazette on April 15^th 1982.

Based on the topics of the training and workshops, the participants concluded some suggestions of relevance to the ICCPR provisions:

1.    Giving attention to the spread of human rights culture in general and holding symposiums, conferences and training courses to judges, lawyers and professors of law to raise the degree of awareness with the ratified international instruments compared to the status of the domestic legislations.

2.    Widely spreading the ICCPR and providing the libraries of the courts and faculties of law with sufficient copies of the ICCPR.

3.    Including the ICCPR into the main courses taught in the faculties of law in Egypt.

4.    Passing a new legislation tilted "Law on Human Rights" that goes in harmony with the international instruments and treaties ratified by Egypt.  

The participants reached some suggestions regarding the guarantees of the rights mentioned in the ICCPR as follows:

First: Right to Life:

As Egypt is still one of the countries that apply the death penalty, the participants suggested the abolition of this penalty to provide the following guarantees:

·       Death Penalty ruling shall only be passed under the consensus of the jury.

·       The case shall be submitted to the Muftti who shall answer by affirmative or refusal and not to keep silent as it usually happens.

·       The death penalty shall not be executed to those who are:

1.    Elderly people (more than 70 years old)

2.    Young people (below 18 years old).

3.    Pregnant women until giving birth and the sentence shall be delayed for at least two years after the date of birth.

4.    People suffering chronic diseases.

5.     People who need surgical intervention and the sentence shall be delayed till full recovery.

·       Giving authorities to the presidential institution and the Higher Judiciary Council to replace the penalty death with other punishments depriving the right of freedom in non-criminal crimes. 

Second: Right to Freedom and Personal Safety:

1.    Arrested and People under Investigation

·       The arrested or detained person shall be informed with its rights and the capacity, job and work of the arrester.

·       Re-applying the system of investigation judge especially in the important cases for reasons of independence unlike the prosecutors who come under the supervision of their superiors.

·       Activating the decrees of the prosecution and the court on releasing the accused with no delay from the executive authority by criminalizing and aggravating the punishments on delaying the decrees of release unless there is a legal justification for such delay.

·       Replacing the preventive detention or conditional release by releasing the accused under investigation and putting a magnetic armlet equipped with a smart chip to be tracked via satellites until attending before the courts if necessary.

2. Prisoners

·       The law on the prisons and the other affiliated facilities as punitive institutions for the guilty people of elderly, women or juvenile requires compressive study, re-planning and regulation through committees involving considerable participation by the NGOs, and human rights organizations to guarantee the baseline of human rights.

3. Detainees in Police Stations

It was noticed that detention in the police station is done in a single detention room including the accused of minor charges and juveniles side-by-side to those of accused of serious crimes with no distinction based on the type of crime or the age.

 Following are the suggestions made in this regard: 

·       Prosecutions shall work at full capacity from early morning to late night and at half capacity from night to early morning to avoid the unjustified detentions.

·       The prosecutors shall daily investigate the places of detention inside the police stations.

·       Forming electronic network between the police stations and prosecution to accelerate the submission and settlement of minor cases especially those pertaining to children, women, elderly and sick people.

·       The role of the investigation judge must be at evening shifts to accelerate the settlement of certain cases such as coughing drunk in public or wrongful injuries and incidents.

·       Bringing about legislative amendments to activate the provision of "No one shall be imprisoned merely on the ground of inability to fulfill a contractual obligation".

Third: Right to Fair and Impartial Trial:

The trainees suggested the issuance of a national legislation states for the guarantees of fair and impartial trails and until such legislation is passed, they suggested the following:

First: Investigation Stage:

1.    Raising the degree of awareness of the lawyers with the procedures of fair and impartial trials in the pre-trial stage such as the periods of legal detention in the police stations and under custody.

2.    Bringing about a legislative amendment to define the maximum interval from the beginning of the criminal procedures till the end of the trial and issuance of the ruling. The proposed amendment should recognize the right of the detainee to keep silent and be informed about the reason of arrest in addition to the right of human treatment and avoidance of threat to the detainee or any family member.

3.    Bringing about legislation stipulates the right of the detainee to attend before the court in reasonable period and in a language which he (she) understands even by a translator at the expense of the investigation authority and finally his (her) right to write down all the desired details in the investigation records that might set him (her) innocent.

Second: Trial Stage:

1.    Activate the right to attend before the competent judge not an extraordinary court.

2.    Provide defense guarantees and existence of a lawyer.

3.    Activate the role of the state-of-art means to record the minutes of the court.

4.    Accelerate the process of claim settlement upon meeting all defenses.

Third: Post-trial Stage:

1.    Establishing judicial police under the supervision of the judiciary system to undertake the enforcement of the judicial rulings.

2.    The supervision over the places of freedom-depriving punishments should be done by the judges by means of periodical secondment to monitor the enforcement of the rulings.

3.    Establishing prosecution for the prisons i.e. each prison should have a prosecutor to do daily investigation, see the complaints of the prisoners and interrogate those who commit crimes inside the prison.

4.    Assigning civil, criminal and disciplinary on the administrative officer who delays the enforcement of  the final rulings issued against an administrative authority and shall be directly penalized without the request of the harmed person and even if this is done through direct claim.

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