Ongoing harassment against El Nadeem Center for the Rehabilitation for Victims of Violence and Torture

EGY 001 /0216 / OBS 019.1

Harassment/

Restrictionsto freedom of association

Egypt

February23, 2016

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, ajoint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and theWorld Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), has received new information andrequests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Egypt.

New information:

TheObservatory has been informed by reliable sources about the ongoing harassmentof El Nadeem Center for the Rehabilitation for Victims of Violence and Torture(“El Nadeem Center”)[1],based in Cairo.

Accordingto the information received, on February 21, 2016, Ms. Aida Seif al-Dawla,Director of El Nadeem Center and Dr. Suzan Fayad, Founder of El NadeemCenter accompanied by their lawyer Ms. Maha Yucef and the head of theCairo's doctor's syndicate Dr. Sanaa Fuad, held meetings withrepresentatives of the Ministry of Health to discuss about the “administrativeclosure order” issued against El Nadeem Center on February 17, 2016, forallegedly “breaching licence conditions”, without providing further information(see background information). On February 20, 2016, El Nadeem Center's lawyerfiled an urgent motion to the Administrative Court of First Instance to suspendthe implementation of the closure order. Meanwhile, the implementation of theorder was postponed until February 22 upon El Nadeem Center's request pendingmeetings at the Ministry of Health.

Duringthe meetings, El Nadeem Center's representatives were informed that theMinistry of Health had ordered the closure of El Nadeem Center for violatingits license, referring to the conduct of activities which did not fall withinthe mandate for which El Nadeem Center had been licensed. Such activitiesinclude the publication of torture reports, which according to the Ministry isnot linked with rehabilitation and is not a medical activity, and especially,the publication in January 2016 of a review of “2015 in numbers” in theEgyptian newspaper Al-Masry Al-youm, summarizing cases of deaths,torture and medical neglect in detention in 2015 as well as cases of extrajudicial killings reported in the media. However, during the meetings, noprofessional or medical breaches were identified with regards to El NadeemCenter's activities.

El NadeemCenter's representatives requested a moratorium and the suspension of theclosure order pending an agreement on ways to disengage their medicalactivities from their human rights advocacy activities. The request wasrejected. At the time of writing this appeal, the closure of the center couldtake place at any time.

TheObservatory recalls that the decision to close El Nadeem Center comes at a timeof rising government pressure on independent human rights groups in Egypt, inthe context of a dramatic deterioration of the human rights situation in thecountry, marked namely by a grave crackdown on civil society and a notableincrease in cases of torture, deaths in detention, enforced disappearances.

The Observatory urges the Egyptianauthorities to immediately and unconditionally put an end to all acts ofharassment against El Nadeem Center and against all human rights organisationsin the country, and to comply with its constitutional obligations (inparticular Article 78 and Article 93 of the 2014 Egyptian Constitution whichrespectively recognise the right to freedom of association and Egypt’scompliance with international human rights conventions ratified by Egypt) aswell as its international legal obligations (in particular Article 22 of theInternational Covenant on Civil and Political Rights – ICCPR).

Backgroundinformation:

OnFebruary 17, 2016 about 4 p.m. two police officers from the Azbakeyya Districtauthority and one city employee ordered the employees of El Nadeem Center toleave the center's premises. The three men delivered an “administrative closure order” signed by the Director of theHealth Ministry’s FreeTreatment Directorate and addressed to the head of the Azbakeyya districtauthority, referring to a violation of Law 453/1954[2].The document ordered the closure of the center based on a decision signed onFebruary 8, 2016, “forbreaching license conditions”(providing no further information) stamped by the Cairo districton February 15. The implementation of the order was postponed until February22, 2016.

At the beginning of February, the center was visited by anemployee of the Ministry of Health, who came to inspect the center based on anorder given by phone from the Minister of Health himself. The minister employeedid not have any official papers nor an inspection warrant. The employee of theMinistry ordered a copy of the center's license. No breaches of regulationswere noted.

Actionsrequested:

Please write to the authorities of Egypt asking them to:

i. Cancel the order to close El Nadeem Center;

ii. Put an end to all forms of harassment against El Nadeem Centerall human rights organisations and defenders in Egypt;

iii. Comply with all the provisions of the United NationsDeclaration on Human Rights Defenders, in particular with:

- its Article 1, which provides that “everyone has the right,individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for theprotection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms at thenational and international levels”;

- its Article 5(b): “For the purpose of promoting and protecting human rights andfundamental freedoms, everyone has the right, individually and in association withothers, at the national and international levels (b) To form, join andparticipate in non-governmental organizations, associations or groups;”

- its Article 12.2, which provides that “the State shall take allnecessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities ofeveryone, individually and in association with others, against any violence,threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination,pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimateexercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration”;

iv. Ensure in all circumstances respect for human rights andfundamental freedoms in accordance with international human rights standardsand international instruments ratified by Egypt.

Addresses:

· President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, H.E. Abdel Fattahel-Sisi, Abedine Palace, Cairo, Egypt, Fax: +202 23901998

· Prime Minister, Mr. Sherif Ismail, Magles ElShaab Street, Kasr El Aini Street, Cairo, Egypt. Fax: + 202 2735 6449 /27958016. Email: primemin@idsc.gov.eg

· Minister of the Interior, General Magdy Abdel Ghaffar, Ministry ofthe Interior, El-Sheikh Rihan Street, Bab al-Louk, Cairo, Egypt, E-mail: moi1@idsc.gov.eg, Fax:+202 2579 2031 / 2794 5529

• Ministerof Justice, Mr. Ahmed Al-Zanad, Ministry of Justice, Magles El Saeb Street,Wezaret Al Adl, Cairo, Egypt, E-mail: mojeb@idsc.gov.eg, Fax:+202 2795 8103

• Public Prosecutor,Counsellor Nabeel Sadek, Dar al-Qadha al-Ali, Ramses Street, Cairo, Egypt, Fax:+202 2577 4716

• Mr.Mohamed Fayeq, President of the National Council For Human Rights, Fax: + 20225747497 / 25747670. Email: nchr@nchr.org.eg

• H.E. Ms.Wafaa Bassim, Ambassador, Permanent Mission of Egypt to the United Nations inGeneva, 49 avenue Blanc, 1202 Genève, Switzerland, Email: mission.egypt@ties.itu.int, Fax:+41 22 738 44 15

• Embassy of Egypt in Brussels, 19 avenue de l’Uruguay, 1000 Brussels, Belgium,Fax: +32 2 675.58.88; Email: embassy.egypt@skynet.be

Pleasealso write to the diplomatic missions or embassies of Egypt in your respectivecountry.

[1] El Nadeem Center is registered in Egypt since1993 and has provided hundreds of torture victims with vital services includingcounseling and legal assistance. The Center issues monthly summaries ofreported instances of torture, deaths, and medical negligence in policecustody. Many of the Center’spatients say they have been tortured by Egyptian security forces.

[2] The law 453/1954 regulates industrial and commercial shops, however, notclinics. The law states that “no business shopsubject to this law can be set up or run without the relevant license; nochanges or amendment in such shops may be executed without the approval ofentity which issued such license.”