Cairo in .................

Activity report about the activities of HRAAP on The legal assistance programs, fieldwork, research and publishing, educational assistance, symposia, conferences and training courses.  Since 1/1/2003 to 13/12/2003

 Introduction:

Before starting recording the activities of the association that are aforementioned, it is worthy to mention some important sides as follows:

1. The new Law of Domestic Associations No 84, 2002 states on the necessity to accord the associations work in the field of human rights to change its legal entity, and to register the association as a domestic association according to that law. That is why, the association submitted its papers to the Ministry of Social Affairs in 8/6/2003, then it was regestered as a domestic association in 14/7/2003 and its name became “The Human Rights Association for the Assistance of Prisoners”.
2. The Association submitted a request to the Ministry of Social Affairs in 6/8/2003 to approve cashing funds offered by the European Union or using the next funds, because the new law stipulates getting a pre-permit from the Ministry to accept any funds from abroad. However, the Association did not receive the approval except in 2/12/2003.  

             It is worth to mention that the Association was obliged to determine its activities generally during completing the procedures of declaring it as a Domestic Association, and also during getting the approval of the Ministry to cash grants deposited in banks. 

The Activity Report

            This report attempts to shed light on the nature of these programs, the objectives set since 1/1/2003 to 13/12/2003 as well as the major obstacles the organization faced and overcame in attempt to accomplish these objectives. Before discussing those activities and programs, we are going to show some clarifications regarding the objectives that should be achieved by these programs in addition to the major obstacles that face the Association in accomplishing them and how to overcome them.  Then we will state the activities that were achieved during that period. 

First: the legal assistance programs

            This program aims at eliminating all legal violations that affect the prisoner or detainee during detention especially the violations that are related to the rights stated by the Egyptian law such as the right to education and the right to medical care, etc.

• To achieve this the Association follows some mechanisms, among them the following:
  1. Notifying the Attorney General, the Ministry of Interiors and the Prison Department about the complaints of prisoners’ families regarding the violations done to their relatives.
  2. Raising legal claims for the prisoners and their families in the framework of improving the living and medical conditions, and the educational needs inside prisons and to file compensation cases to those imprisoned or detained without legal reason, in addition to torturing and treating them cruelly.  Also to present appeals against the detention decisions, etc.

 Overcoming Obstacles

•             The basic obstacle faces this program that the Ministry of Interior refuses to execute the issued decisions against it but the Association tries hard to use some forgotten legal articles or items whereby he can file a direct misdemeanor against any responsible party that refuses to execute a resolution and the Association aims at pressing on them to execute those resolutions.
•             There are some claims that are not allowed to be filed except through legal representation on behalf of the detainee himself through the Association.  Moreover, it is not allowed to use a proxy given by the families. In addition, there are many obstacles to issues those proxies among them to present the original identity card of the detainee with the association representative in addition to the difficulty of obtaining the permission from the detainee’s Affairs Office under the auspices of the General prosecutors office etc.
•             Many of the detainees and their families file claims of compensation for the recurrent detention resolutions issued against the detainee.  Those claims and compensations are considered inadequate for the detainee, his family and the harm done to him, and it is considered the only hope for the detainee to make a living after release from detention.  The detention certificate issued by the Attorney General Office is considered the main document in such claims by which the compensation value is defined, and in many cases the family or the detainee file more than one compensation claim through dividing the dates mentioned in the certificate.  However, the Attorney General Office, starting from Feb 2002, started to issue this certificate without mentioning enough dates of detention resolutions which lead some judges to use them against the detainee and of course it obliges the family or the detainee to file one claim during every detention period including – which lead to decreased compensation.  Concerning this the Association is forced to file some legal claims to cancel the general prosecutor decision by changing the form and the content of the detention certificate so that it becomes like before (to make it like the before the decisions)
•             After issuing the law of committee of dispute resolution, the claimee against the state had to file his case to the committee before filing before the court.  The committee will issue a resolution approved by the two parties (the court and the detainee) and the consent is a provision to accept this resolution. The association through this practical experience found that the government, what it was, often refuses the resolutions issued by those committees and consequently this provision became an obstacle to file the claim.

The activities of the Association regarding the Legal Assistance Program from 1/1/2003 to 13/12/2003:

1. Notifications and complaints:

            The Association has received during this period of time almost 574 notifications from the detainees families according which it presented 1722 notifications to the Attorney General and the Minister of Interior and the head of Prisons Department.  It is worthy to mention that the Association has not received any response or reply from those institutions concerning those complaints and notification.

1. Filing Complaints Against Detention Resolutions:

            During this period, the Association filed 1110[1] complaints against detention resolutions of detainees in prisons in separate detention associations.  It is important to assert in this regard that there are many families who refuse to file those complaints (they don’t like to) especially if the detainee was imprisoned in a detention where the visits are done in a better way because he is afraid of being moved to different prison.  This transfer sometimes is done as punishment (disciplinary) procedure for the persons who filed the complaint.  It is worth mentioning that in the second half of this year some improvements were introduced to the process of visitation in some prisons but not others.  After introducing those improvements, the prisons did not continue offering the better process of visitation i.e. the right to visit and release the detainees. 

2. Legal Claims

 A)      The number of filed claims from 1/1/2003 to 31/12/2003

 During this period the Association has obtained 57[2] Judicial Resolutions, include: 

• 3 Resolutions of compensation for torture
• 14 Supreme Administration Resolutions to refuse represented Appeals of the Ministry of Interior regarding the Resolutions obtained by the Association previously, the court denied they claim you have (isdishkal)           
• 40 Resolutions to enable detainees to attend their exams.

On the other hand the Association has filed many legal claims against the ministry of interior regarding the violation of prisoners and detainees rights.  The total of those claims is 366 divided as follows[3]:

• 55 claims against the Minister of the Interior to enable the detainees to attend exams.
• 11 claims against the Minister of Interior to enable the families of some detainees to visit them.
• 11 compensation claims regarding detention
• 12 compensation claims for wives harmed because of detaining their husbands.
• 14 compensation claims for mothers harmed because of detaining their sons.
• 14 compensation claims for fathers harmed because of detaining their sons.
• 18 compensation claims for torturing detainees by police officers.
• 231 requests to the committees of dispute resolution

 In addition to 18 compensation judicial claims   for torture that have been presented in 2002 and are still before the court in 2003.

 b)                   The legal research and human rights program

             This program aims at providing the legal library with many studies and reports that tackle the conditions of prisons and prisoners in Egypt in addition to attract the public attention inside Egypt to the important issues and problems facing the prisoners and detainees to improve their conditions.

             To achieve those goals the Association prepared and published many studies and reports about the conditions of prisoners and prisoners and distributes them for free to lawyers, citizens, journalist and public figures, etc. who are interested in this field. 

 The Human Right Association for the Assistance of Prisoners Activities Regarding the Research and Publishing Program  From 1/1/2003 to 31/12/2003

 During this period, the Association has released the following publications:

 1-The condition of woman inside the Egyptian prisons (practical study) “English”

             This report handles the condition of woman inside the Egyptian prisons and the extent of her getting the rights that are noted in law. This study has been supported with some study cases about this subject. Moreover, this report has been presented to a great selection of lawyers, and those who concerned to the human rights as well as journalists and other public characters.           

2-Annual Report for 2002.  The prisons condition in Egypt:  “The detention and detainee conditions in Egypt during 2002”.  

            The association report studies the deteriorated condition of 18 prisons during 2002.  In addition, the report includes a section examining temporary detention places inside police stations, the State Security police premises and the detainees in custody.  The report focuses on the recurrent detention of prisoners and detainees, detention pending investigation as well as the intentional disappearance of detainees in Egypt. 

 All this is supported with study cases that have been done throughout the year.  This report is published in both Arabic and English.

 3-One Year After of the Earthquake…………human rights at a crossroads (Arabic and English editions)        

            This book includes the papers and conclusions of the first scientific conference organized by the Human Rights Association for the assistance of prisoners in 23-24 September 2002 entitled “One Year after the Earthquake the Human Rights at Crossroads”. More than 140 Egyptian and foreign participants of speakers, commentators, and the managers of the session attended this conference, as well as representatives from the Arab league and from the ministry of foreign affairs and the ministry of justice. This is in addition to representatives of the official diplomatic delegations in Egypt as Palestine, the USA, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Swede, Nigeria, ocarina, and the Zech republic and man international authorities existing in Egypt.

            Because of the great variety of the participants and the variety of the papers and discussions about this issue, the association had to collect them in a book and issue a book in English and Arabic to be available for all readers and researchers. Additionally, the association publish the English and the Arabic editions on the association’s website that is .hrcap.org

 4-How to defend yourself before the court (The Prisoner Rights Defender’s Guide Series, 4^th  Edition).  ”Arabic edition”

            This guide is the 4^th in the guide series that aim at providing information and experience for those who work in this field in order to raise their abilities in the field of training on one side and to add practical legal information in order to improve their performance on the other side. This issue seems to be smaller than the previous three issues as it can be referred to as a small practical brochure that includes the necessary precise information.

            In fact, such these guides aim mainly at providing young journalists and lawyers with easy judicial knowledge about the abuse and humiliation that enable the journalists not to be involved in judicial violations, consequently they would be punished. In addition, these guides can help lawyers who are going to know more about this kind of work intending to be specialized in this section in the future.

 5-The Islamic opinion about torturing a suspect to confess committing a crime (Arabic edition)

            In the framework of the association’s campaign against torture in Egypt, the association issued a research entitled (the Islamic Opinion about Torturing a Suspect to confess committing a crime , a comparative study in the Islamic law)this research has been composed by dr AbdAllah Mabrouk Alnaggar- lecturer in the faculty of sharia’(Islamic legislation) and law, Al Azhar university, and a member in the Islamic researches association. This book deals with the Islamic opinion and attitude of the Islamic legislation towards the issue of torturing a suspect to force him to confess committing a crime. In addition it sheds light on the opinion of the different beliefs and concluded that using torture is against the religion of Islam.

 Thirdly: Fieldwork and investigation missions Program

            This program reports the violations of prisoners and detainees rights and verifies them. The association receives notifications from citizens or detained prisoners, in addition to sending investigation missions to observe certain violations in a given place. Also the Association organizes periodical visits to some prisoners and detainees in prisons to observe the conditions inside those prisons

 **Overcoming Obstacles

-One of the basic goals of this program is to observe the internal conditions of prisons but the short visitation period, the crowded visitation place and the wide space between them stand as a barrier between the Association and the detainee. However, the Association overcomes those obstacles by asking the newly released prisoners about the internal conditions of prisons.

The activity of the association through the program of fieldwork and legal assistance:

 - Concerning prison visitation and the Association activity to guarantee the detainees and prisoners rights to visitation by their families and to contact the outside world, the Association from 1/1/ 2003 to 13/12/2003 has made visits to many Egyptian prisons open to visitation. These they are Wadi-Natroon I & II, Wadi-Elwadi Algadid, Damanhour, the industrial Apuzapal, Leman Tora Hospital, Fayoum Prison, Quanater for men and Quanater Prison for women.  The Association has done many investigation missions and fieldwork team to investigate about violations inside prisons or inside temporary detention places at police stations.  The total number of visits and fieldwork missions for investigations is 245 visits.  They were directed to many places all over the Republic of Egypt, and about 325 visits to the prisoners and detainees, in addition 35 presentation mission and following up of trails have been made. 

 On the other hand, the fieldwork unit interviewed the newly released detainees at their governerates during those interviews the Association stated the conditions inside prisons in which they are detained and consequently evaluated the extent of deteriorating conditions.

 Fourthly, educational assistance project.

            This project aims at providing service to prisoners and detainees and their families in the field of education.  This assistance is achieved through paying the fees of studies and buying the books and materials necessary for study for those who benefit from this project.            

Overcoming obstacles:

             In fact, there are no important obstacles that face this project except the increase in acquiring this assistance under the limited resources designed for it.  The Association overcomes this problem by searching for extra resources and trying to find a method that achieves equality among prisoners, their families or through limiting one service to be given to the prisoner whether to buy books or necessity materials or paying fees or to change the lists of those who benefit from this service every year. 

 The Association Activities regarding this project during 1/1/2003 to 13/12/2003:

  During this period, the Association presented aid to the families of the detainees as follows:

 1-providing their children with school bags and stationary

As 1808 families of prisoners children benefited from this project, 1222 in the primary stage, 371 students in the preparatory stage and 215 students in the secondary stage.

2-Paying their school fees:

These aids have been given to 742 students including 255 in the primary stage, 121 students in the preparatory stage and 230 students in the secondary stage in addition to paying the fees of the extra lessons for 14 students and buying extra books for 4 students.

 Fifthly: The Symposiums and Conferences

A – The Symposiums and scientific Conferences.

Human Rights in Egypt from Geneva 2002 to Geneva 2004

The Human Rights Association completed a report that replies on the report presented by the Egyptian government to the Human Rights Association in the United Nations in 2002 through the available abilities and experiences as the association beliefs deeply that experience can not be gained without practice and that raising this issue is a matter of duty that cannot be ignored.

            We can safely say that the association achieved a great achievement more than what was expected as it has made an equal report that clarified the other side of the issue during the discussion committee of the human rights in the United Nations in November 2002.

            That is what urged the association to make 2003 a year of presenting the Egyptian government report to the human rights committee in the United Nations in addition to the equal report made by the association. Also, is has been necessary to shed light on the recommendations of the human rights committee in the united nations that have been issued after discussing the Egyptian government report considering publishing them a duty imposed on all the human rights associations in Egypt in order to appreciate how far the Egyptian government respond to the international human rights committee.

            That is why the association organized its scientific conference in 25-26 may 2003 entitled:

 The Human Rights Association for the Assistance of Prisoners