On August 18, 2004, the Human Rights Association for the Assistance of Prisoners filed a case No. 31221/58 judicial year, against the Egyptian Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the American Embassy in Cairo to unveil the destiny of the Egyptian citizen Aadel Fattouh Aly Al Gazzar who are detained in Guantanamo since 2001 till now, however the session time has not been set yet.

The incidents date back when on August 27, 2000 when the mentioned detainee traveled to Saudi Arabia to visit the sacred places and ever since his family did not get any news about him. As a result, his family did heavy efforts to know his destiny till they have received a message from him via the Red Cross telling them that he has been detained on borders between Pakistan and Afghanistan on December 31, 2001 and them the Pakistani government extradited him to the American forces that detained him and sent him to Guantanamo.

He is still detained there now and has spent three years without a trial or inflicting any accusation against him as it is considered a flagrant breach to the international agreements and covenants that U.S.A. has ratified as the article No. 14 of the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights states that:

1.        All persons shall be equal before the courts and tribunals. In the determination of any criminal charges against him, or of his rights and obligations in a suit at law, everyone shall be entitled to a fair and public hearing by a competent, independent and impartial tribunal established by law. The press and the public may be excluded from all or part of a trial for reasons of morals, public order or national security in a democratic society, or when the interests of the private lives of the parties so requires, or to the extent strictly necessary in the opinion of the court in special circumstances where publicity would prejudice the interest of justice; but any judgment rendered in a criminal case or in juvenile persons otherwise requires or the proceedings concern matrimonial disputes or the guardianship of children.

2.        Everyone charged with a criminal offence shall have the rights to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law.

3.        In the determination of any criminal charge against him, everyone should be entitled to the following minimum guarantees, in full equality:

a.       To be informed promptly and in detail in a language which he understand of the nature and cause of the charge against him.

b.       To have adequate time facilities for the preparation of defense and to communicate with counsel of his own choice.

c.       To be tried without undue delay.

d.       To be tried in his presence, and to defend himself in person or through legal assistance of his own choice; to be informed, if he does not have legal assistance, of this right; and to have legal assistance assigned to him, in any such case if he does not have sufficient means to pay for it.

e.       To examine, or have examined, the witnesses against him and to obtain the attendance and examination of witnesses on his behalf under the same conditions as witnesses against him;

f.        To have the free assistance of an interpreter if he cannot understand or speak the language used in court;

g.       Not to be compelled to testify against himself or to confess guilt

4.        In the case of juvenile persons, the procedure shall be such as will take account of their age and the desirability of prompting their rehabilitation.

5.        Everyone convicted of a crime shall have the right to have his conviction and sentence reviewed by a higher tribunal according to law.

6.        When a person has by a final decision been convicted of a criminal offence and when subsequently his conviction has been reversed or has been pardoned on the ground that a new or newly discovered fact shows conclusively that there has been a miscarriage of justice, the person who has suffered punishment as a result of such conviction shall be compensated according to the law, useless it is proved that the non-disclosure of the unknown fact in time is wholly or partially attributed to him.

7.        No one shall be liable to be tried or punished against for an offence for which has already be finally convicted or acquitted in accordance with the law and penal procedure of each country.

 

It worth mentioning that his family tried hard to urge the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to cooperate with them to correct his conditions but in vein. Consequently, the association sent many complaints to the authorized bodies which urged the association to file this case to oblige the defendants to unveil the destiny of this citizen either by releasing him or inflicting certain accusations against him and providing the necessary guarantees to be tried fairly and allowing his lawyers to meet him.   

The Human Rights Association for the Assistance of Prisoners