(EOHR/IFEX) – The following is a 6 March 2000 EOHR press release: Two Students Referred to the Emergency High State Security Court The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) received with deep concern the news of the referral of two students to the Supreme State Security Court for Emergency. Both students are members of the […]
(EOHR/IFEX) – The following is a 6 March 2000 EOHR press release:
Two Students Referred to the Emergency High State Security Court
The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) received with deep concern the news of the referral of two students to the Supreme State Security Court for Emergency. Both students are members of the Central Youth Union of Al-Amal (Labor) Party in Cairo and Giza. Ahmed Khamis Mahmoud, 23 years old, is the Secretary General of the Youth Section of Al-Amal Party. Ahmed Foaad Ibrahim, 20 years old, is the Assistant to the Secretary General of the Youth Section of Al-Amal Party. The police forces arrested these two students on the evening of the 17 August 1999.
According to the information received by the EOHR, the defendants were referred to Al-Azbakeyya Prosecution Department in connection with report no. 4241/1999. They were charged by the Prosecutor with disseminating inflammatory information threatening to public security and possession of tools (leaflets and spray paint) of dissemination hostile to the government. They were also charged with writing on the wall of Masr Train Station. The writings were anti-Zionist, calling for a refusal of normalization with Israel and condemning the imprisonment of Al-Shaab journalists. The prosecutor ordered their imprisonment for thirteen days pending investigation. They were released on 9 September 1999. They were referred to the Supreme State Security Court for Emergency according to article no. 102 of the penal code. This decision was issued on 2 February 2000, but the accused were not informed of it until the first week of March 2000. The first hearing of their trial will be held Thursday 9 March 2000, in Al-Azbakeyya Court.
The EOHR asserts the necessity of providing and protecting the right to fair trial and freedom of expression and calls for the opening of democratic channels for political participation according to the international covenants for human rights that the Egyptian Government has ratified. The EOHR condemns the referral of ordinary citizens to exceptional courts, which neglect all legal guarantees of the defendants, and urges the President of the Republic of Egypt to stop the Emergency Law, which permits these referrals.
