The Human Rights Association for the Assistance of Prisoners Campaign

Hand in Hand ... Egypt without Torture

  Cairo: 16 / 5 /2004
 

Confirmation of the Political Refugees' Right to Protection
 HRAAP expresses deep sorrow for the kidnapping of Yemen's former vice-minister of defense from Cairo, his three-month detention on part of the Yemeni government before his release.

 In a sudden development concerning the kidnapping of Brigadier Ahmed Salem Ebaid, Yemen's former vice-minister of defense and minister of information since February 18, 2004, after HRAAP filed case No. 16247/58 judicial year against both the Egyptian ministry of Interior and the Yemeni embassy in Cairo to determine his fate, HRAAP received information that he has appeared in Aden after having been detained for the past three months in Sana'a under maximum security.

 This development supports what HRAAP stated in its case before administrative courts. The case was postponed from 11/5/2004 to 13/7/2004 to allow the Egyptian and Yemeni governments to present their relevant data. Brigadier Ahmed Salem had been extradited according to a security agreement between the Egyptian and Yemeni governments. Accordingly, some of the wanted Islamists will be extradited to Egypt in return for Yemeni members of opposition.

 HRAAP declares that this incident constitutes a flagrant violation of article 53 of the Egyptian Constitution that prohibits the extradition of political refugees. It is also considered a breach of the International Covenant ratified by Egypt and thus coming into effect since April 22, 1954. The Covenant prohibits the extradition of migrants to their countries of origin if that threatens them with torture or violation of their rights.

 The disappearance of Brigadier Ahmed Salem Ebaid is not the first of its type in Egypt. Previously, Mr. Mansour Al-Kekhya, Libya's former minister of interior and member of the secretaries council at the Arab Organization for Human Rights (AOHR) in mysteriously disappeared after attending meetings of the general assembly of the AOHR at the Safir  hotel in Cairo on 11/12/1993. His fate remains unknown to date.

HRAAP is glad that Brigadier Ahmed Salem Ebaid appeared to profoundly condemn all attempts to exchange members of political opposition between Arab countries, and affirms the right of political refugees to safe asylum and protection against extradition.

Also, HRAAP requests that the Egyptian and Yemeni governments announce the truth about this case, as well as procedures that will be taken to prevent such incidents from taking place again. HRAAP calls upon Arab and international human rights organizations to support its campaign to provide legal protection to political refugees, hold the Yemeni government responsible for the physical safety of the brigadier and his family, and call upon it to adhere to its international obligations by supporting democracy and protecting human rights.

  The Human Rights Association for the Assistance of Prisoners