Cairo: 1/6/2004

Tonight, the two advanced training courses are concluded, which were organized by HRAAP with the cooperation of the Egyptian Bar Association and the Arab Center for Educating on the Humane International Law and Human Rights in Leone, France, regarding

The national and international mechanisms to protect the right to safe body

Tonight, the two advanced training courses are concluded, which were organized by HRAAP with the cooperation of the Egyptian Bar Association and the Arab Center for Educating on the Humane International Law and Human Rights in Leone, France in the period from May 29 to June 1, 2004 in Cairo.

             This training course takes place within the proceedings of the campaign held by the association since January 1, 2002 in Egypt. Around 60 lawyers, male and female, have taken advantage from two courses, who passed excellently the training program organized by the association about using the mechanisms of the legal protection from torture entitled "the Right to Safe Body". The course discussed the national and international mechanisms to protect the right to safe body

             According to the training program, Dr. Midany and Dr. Taher Buglal, from the Arab Center for Educating on the Humane International and Human Rights with a selection form the experts of Egyptian human rights like Mr. Negad Al-Bora'i, lawyer in Cassation, General Director of the Group for Democratic Development and former member of the Board of Trustees of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR), Mr. Mohamed Monib the former Secretary General of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) and the Head of the African Center for Human Rights, Mr. Mahmoud Kandil the former Manager of the Field Work Unit in the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR), Mr, Moahmed Al-Ghamry the former Executive Manager of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR). They will train the participants in the international protection for human rights, show the mechanism of the international agreement for combating torture and the prevention of torture and combating it, torture between the legal protection and the actual practice, procedures of amending letters and mechanism of the raportuer for combating torture and documenting torture crimes and submitting the letters to the international committees.

After the Prison Administration refused to allow the fact-finding delegation to visit the detainees in the prison under the allegation that they are not present in the prison, although the association has a visitation permit issued by the Technical Office for the Attorney General to visit four strikers. The strikers are Abdel-Fattah Olwy Ahmed, Ibrahim Abdel-Hady Ali, Wesam Mamdouh Abdel-Gaber Al-Nahhal and Zeyad Nemr Al-Kashash.

This new development dates back to the last Thursday May 27, 2004, when the striker detainees were distributed to many other prisons such as Leman Abu-Za'bal, Leman Tura, Al-Mansoura, Damanhour, Al-Katta, Port Sa'ed, and Al-Zakazik. This action indicates the persistence of the Ministry of Interior to the continuation of detaining those strikers and it seems as an attempt from the side of the Prison Department to get the strikers under pressure psychologically to put an end to this strike by distributing them.