We deserve freedom

Human Rights Association for the Assistance of Prisoners campaign

for putting an end to emergency state in Egypt 2004-2006

Cairo: 16/10/2004

Thosand detainees against the parliament

And twenty million pound as a compensation to them

A new case adopted by the Human Rights Association for the Assistance of Prisoners

 
As of today, southern Cairo court considers five new cases against the Egyptian parliament raised by HRAAP against the state president and People’s Assembly president for the former arbitrariness in using his constitutional right and renewing the emergency state in Egypt and the arbitrariness of People’s Assembly in using his authority and approving of the renewal request in spite of the absence of the proper justifications.

 According to the five cases papers prepared for the association by the lawyer Negad Al Bora’y “lawyer in Cassation court”, the president decree of renewing emergency state came lacking proper justifications whereas the Egyptian constitution and the Emergency Law obliges the president to give reasons to his decision of renewal so that People’s Assembly can be able to consider these reasons. The case papers said that “stipulation of the constitution and law to give reasons to the renewal of the emergency state make these reasons a cornerstone in this decision that cannot be valid without it and ignoring it causes the invalidity of the decision. The inevitability to give reasons is to allow People’s Assembly, the state representative, monitoring the legality of the president administration”, the case continued to mention that “if People’s Assembly disregards his legal and constitutional duties in monitoring reasons led the president to declare the emergency state or renewing it or if he accepted a decision to renew the emergency state without including this decision reasons based on it, in this case People’s Assembly has neglected in performing his duties and acted arbitrarily in using his constitutional authority for the executive authority and be the responsible for the declaration of and continuation in putting Egypt under state of emergency whereas he did not only neglect in monitoring the president decision but commended his decision also, and most the parliament members generalized the personal benefits or party obligations rather than practicing their constitutional and legal role, they are responsible, as members and citizens, for harms afflicted the plaintiffs as a result of their negligence, on purpose”

HRAAP added in the case papers “according to the Article No. 148 of the constitution, it is necessary for emergency state to be determined and temporary. If the parliament issued a legislation or practiced a parliament mission as a result of the recurrent approval of the declaration of emergency state in order to transform it from the state of temporariness to permanent state, in this way it acted arbitrarily in using his authority in legislation considering it deviated from the high principles of constitution”.

HRAAP requested the parliament and Mr. President in the name of thousand administrative detainees to pay a compensation of 20000 to all the plaintiffs that oblige, if the sentence is for the association, the parliament with the presidency boy to pay compensations amount to twenty million Egyptian pounds for the Egyptian plaintiffs.

The importance of these cases lies in discussing the idea of the parliament arbitrariness in using his authority in legislation and the extent of its compliance during performing his monitory mission to the judicial authority. If these cases raised by HRAAP are carried out, it will put the parliament works under the monitory of the judicial authority and that will diminish the arbitrariness of the executive authority on the parliament missions.

It is worth mentioning that these cases is considered part of the proceedings of its campaign to put an end to emergency state in Egypt under the slogan of “we deserve freedom” that was initiated by HRAAP on Wednesday October 13, 2004 that began with honoring all the parliament members who voted against the president decision to renew the emergency state and other media and party leaders that refused the renewal.