On the occasion of the anniversary of Mohamed Mahmoud Events The ACIJLP Calls upon Egyptian President to take decisive measures against impunity By Ratification and accession to the ICC

Cairo on November 19, 2012

 

On the occasion of the anniversary of Mohamed Mahmoud Events

The ACIJLP Calls upon Egyptian President to take decisive measures against impunity

By Ratification and accession to the ICC

 

The Arab Center for the Independence of Judiciary and the Legal Profession (ACIJLP) expresses its deep concern over the slack of Egyptian authorities, to take legislative, judicial and administrative measures necessary to combat the culture of impunity, a matter which makes the perpetrators of crimes and gross violations of human rights in immune from prosecution and judicial accountability and punishment. This slack gives the opportunity to repeat such gross violations of the right to life, freedom and physical integrity. Moreover, this will represents a continued deterioration of the situation of human rights in Egypt.

On the occasion of the anniversary of the events of Mohammed Mahmoud, which took place in Egypt from 19^th to 24^th November last year where 45 persons were killed and hundreds of peaceful demonstrators wounded. The ACIJLP calls upon Egyptian President to take a decisive stand on the ratification of and accession to the International Criminal Court, especially as Egypt signed the Rome Statute of the ICC on 26^th December 2000.  The Rome Statute of the ICC considered the crimes committed against demonstrators as crimes against humanity. There is no trial hold against such crimes, a matter which precluded the fact of prosecuting a person for the same offense twice and allowed the possibility of accountability of those involved in these crimes and punished them if it is required.

The ACIJLP points out that the trials which took place in similar facts and violations in accordance with the national Egyptian laws have left abnormal results where the perpetrators escape from punishment according to judicial judgments issues before courts in which those provisions and legislation do not help it to issue a penalty against offenders.

The ACIJLP also points out that those involved in the events of Camel Battle  on 2^nd February 2011, the events of Balloon Theatre on 28/6/2011, Maspero events on 9/10/2011, Mohamed Mahmoud events on 19/11/2011 and the events of the Council of Ministers on 19/12/2011 some of them escaped punishment by court judgments, and the others will escape from punishment if they are not subject to trial as long as they underwent Egyptian penal legislation, which does not know this type of crimes and serious violations of human rights.

The ACIJLP asserts that  Several requirements must be provided in order to conduct fair trial to those involved in the commission of crimes against humanity and against peaceful demonstrators including: the existence of national legislation that contains a precise description of these crimes, determines its sanctions and organizes the trial of the perpetrators, a matter which is provided ratification of the Rome Statute of the ICC in addition to the presence of investigation's bodies and national courts that are able to deal with this kind of serious crime in its various forms  regarding the requirements of  investigation and trial including techniques and particular strategies and the presence of qualified elements of prosecutors and judges aware of the principles and mechanisms of international criminal law.

The ACIJLP calls upon the Egyptian President to ratify and accede to the International Criminal Court because he has the right to the ratification and accession in accordance with the applicable Egyptian legislation currently, if he has a genuine desire in fair trials to the killers of peaceful demonstrators in the 25^th January Revolution and its subsequent events.