The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights
PRESS
RELEASE
EOHR welcomes the release of 1,200 detainees of the Islamic Group |
27 April 1999 Yesterday, 26 April 1999, the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) received with satisfaction the news of the release of 1,200 detainees of Al-Gamaa El-Islameya (the Islamic Group), a move that comes as part of the process began by the Egyptian authorities to solve the issue of the detainees. It is worth mentioning that this measure comes only one week after a Military Court sentenced nine members of El-Jihad group to death and scores of others to prison. The EOHR has observed a positive decrease in the number of violent actions right after the massacre of Deir El-Bahary, Luxor, in November 1997. Since then, acts of violence have been restricted to a few spots and involved only members of the security forces and the armed militant groups. The EOHR did not monitor any organized operations against Egyptian or foreign civilians. The EOHR considers that the continuation of the process to release all detainees who are not involved in acts of violence will result in a better climate on both the political and social levels. First, it will stop the violence that spread throughout Egyptian society in the nineties; and second, the return of thousands of political detainees to their homes will put an end to the social tragedy faced by thousands of Egyptian families. The EOHR welcomes this process and hopes it becomes a permanent policy. To this end, it calls on the militant groups to discard all kinds of violence. It also calls on the Egyptian authorities to solve the problem of the detainees, particularly those who were found not guilty by Military or State Security Couts or who were released by the prosecution, and those who are recurrently detained on suspicions of belonging to Islamic militant groups. The EOHR also calls on the Egyptian authorities to suspend all exceptional laws, foremost the emergency law, stop the referral of civilians to the Military Judiciary, take effective measures to stop torture, and improve conditions inside Egyptian prisons and provide medical care to prisoners and detainees. In this respect, the EOHR asserts the importance of revoking the current ban on visits to the prisons of Tora, Fayoum and Leman Abou Zaabal. Also, the EOHR urges the Egyptian authorities to stop the execution of death penalty sentences issued by Military Courts and to refer the accused to their rightful judge. In addition, the authorities, in cooperation with Egyptian civil society, should provide those released with appropriate social and economic conditions to facilitate their rehabilitation into the society. Finally, in order to end the use of violence as a mechanism for political expression, the EOHR calls on the Egyptian Government to deepen democracy by abolishing all restrictions on the right to establish political parties and civil society organizations. This measure would in turn activate the rights to political participation and to take part in the conduct of public affairs, which are guaranteed by the Egyptian Constitution and international human rights declarations ratified by the Egyptian Government.
