State Council's report declared illegal the administrative closure order against El Nadeem Clinic

New information

EGY 001 / 0216 /OBS 019.5

Harassment /

Restrictions tofreedom of association

Egypt

March 23, 2017

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, apartnership of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and FIDH, hasreceived new information and requests your urgent intervention in the followingsituation in Egypt.

New information:

The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources about recentdevelopments on the administrative closure of El Nadeem Center for theRehabilitation for Victims of Violence and Torture (“El Nadeem Center”)[1],based in Cairo.

According to the information received, on March 18, 2017, the State Council issueda report declaring illegal the February 17, 2016 administrative closure orderagainst El Nadeem Clinic, following a complaint filed on February 20, 2016 by El Nadeem staff before theAdministrative Court (see background information). The State Council commissionersargued that that El Nadeem had never been informed of any breaches to thelicense conditions, nor were they given a time to redress such allegedbreaches.

It has to be noted thatthe conclusions of the report are not binding and has been forwarded to the Administrative Court who has the discretion to take it into account or notduring the administrative proceedings. The first court session is scheduled onApril 19, 2017.

Furthermore, at the timeof writing this appeal, there were still no developments regarding the secondcomplaint filed by El Nadeem staff with the Prosecution on February 9, 2017 onthe illegal closure of two other flatsoccupied by El Nadeem Center, which were not included in the Ministry of Health(MoH) closing order of February 2016 (see background information).

The Observatory recalls that this year has seen an unprecedentedharassment against El Nadeem Center,with three closure attempts in less than a year, an attempt to freeze thecenter’s assets, as well as a travel ban issued against its Director Ms.Aida Seif El-Dawla[2].

The harassment campaign against theanti-torture movement in Egypt comes at a time ofrising government pressure on independent human rights groups in Egypt, in thecontext 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 and enforced disappearances.

TheObservatory urges the Egyptian authorities to immediately and unconditionallylift the closure order against El Nadeem Center as well as the travel banagainst Ms. Aida Seif El-Dawla.

Background information:

On February 17, 2016 at about 4 p.m. two police officers from theAzbakeya District authority and one city employee ordered the employees of ElNadeem Center to leave the center's premises. The three men delivered an“administrative closure order” signed by the Director of the Health Ministry’sFree Treatment Directorate and addressed to the head of the Azbakeya districtauthority, referring to a violation of Law 453/1954[3].The document ordered the closure of the center based on a decision signed onFebruary 8, 2016, “for breaching license conditions” (providing no furtherinformation) stamped by the Cairo district on February 15. The implementationof the order was postponed until February 22, 2016.

At the beginning ofFebruary, the center was visited by an employee of the MoH, who came to inspectthe center based on an order given by phone from the MoH himself. The Ministeremployee did not have any official papers nor an inspection warrant. Theemployee of the Ministry ordered a copy of the center's license. No breaches ofregulations were noted.

On February 21, 2016, Ms. Aida Seif al-Dawla, Director of ElNadeem Center and Dr. SuzanFayad, Founder of El Nadeem Center accompanied by their lawyer Ms. Maha Yucef and the head of the Cairo's doctor'ssyndicate Dr. Sanaa Fuad,held meetings with representatives of the Ministry of Health to discuss aboutthe “administrative closure order” issued against El Nadeem Center on February17, 2016, for allegedly “breaching licence conditions”, without providingfurther information. On February 20, 2016, El Nadeem Center's lawyer filed anurgent motion to the Administrative Court of First Instance to suspend theimplementation of the closure order. Meanwhile, the implementation of the orderwas postponed until February 22 upon El Nadeem Center's request pendingmeetings at the MoH.

During the meetings, El Nadeem Center's representatives were informedthat the MoH had ordered the closure of El Nadeem Center for violating itslicense, referring to the conduct of activities which did not fall within themandate for which El Nadeem Center had been licensed. Such activities includethe publication of torture reports, which according to the Ministry is notlinked with rehabilitation and is not a medical activity, and especially, thepublication in January 2016 of a review of “2015 in numbers” in the Egyptiannewspaper Al-Masry Al-youm, summarizing cases of deaths, tortureand medical neglect in detention in 2015 as well as cases of extra judicialkillings reported in the media. However, during the meetings, no professionalor medical breaches were identified with regards to El Nadeem Center'sactivities.

El Nadeem Center's representatives requested a moratorium and thesuspension of the closure order pending an agreement on ways to disengage theirmedical activities from their human rights advocacy activities. The request wasrejected.

On February 20, 2016, El Nadeem Center challenged the closure orderbefore the Administrative Court. The complaint included an urgent request todelay implementation of the closure order until the Court has heard the appeal,but that urgent request was not accepted.

In the afternoon of April 5, 2016, the Egyptian MoH sent a delegation toEl Nadeem Center to implement the “administrative closure order” and close theCenter. El Nadeem directors refused to comply and leave the premises, as theMoH representatives did not present the original document of the closure order,as required by law.

The MoH representatives decided to leave the premises but called theInterior Ministry to request the intervention of police forces to enforce theorder.

On April 6, 2016, ElNadeem Center sent another telegram to the Director in charge ofnon-governmental treatment institutions and licences at the MoH stating thatthe closing team did not have an official order with them, that the center wasnot inspected for any violations and that they had not been informed of anyviolations to correct. The memorandum requested, again, to suspend the closingorder and to form a medical inspection committee to inspect the clinic for anyprofessional breaches.

At the same time, El Nadeem Center’s staff was informed via the mediathat the Azbakeya district Governorate had filed a complaint against them atthe Azbakeya police station for not allowing the closing team to execute theclosing order.

On November 10, 2016, El Nadeem Center was informed that their assetshad been frozen, for four days following a directive of the Central Bank ofEgypt (CBE). Several other NGOs have been allegedly subjected to the sameadministrative measure. The reason given by the bank for the four day assetfreeze was that they had to comply with bank regulations and we had to submit adocument confirming that we were not registered with the ministry of socialsolidarity.

It has to be recalled that El Nadeem Center was not part of case173/2011 (the “foreign funding case” against civil society), within whichframework on September 17, 2016, several human rights defenders and NGOs weresubjected to an asset freeze[2].

More recently, on February 9, 2017, at around 11 a.m., fifteen policeofficers in civilian clothes closed and sealed with tape and red wax the doorsof the three flats occupied by El Nadeem. At the time, the premises were vacantas the center is closed on Thursdays and Fridays.

The janitor, who was the only person present on the premises when thepolice’s operation began, tried to oppose the closure and was threatened ofarrest by the police. Alerted by phone about the operation, Ms. Aida SeifEl-Dawla, Director and one of the founders of ElNadeem Center, immediately arrived on the premises. Shewas denied any explanations on the situation, and also threatened of arrest ifshe kept asking questions. The janitor, accompanied by ElNadeem Centre’s lawyer Mr. Taher Abulnasr,was brought to the Azbakeya police station.

The Observatory fears that the police officers were implementing the“administrative closing order” issued on February 17, 2016 by the Ministry ofHealth (MoH) to shut down the center for allegedly “breaching licenseconditions”. It has to be recalled that on that occasion the closing order onlymentioned El Nadeem Center clinic, which occupies only one of the three flatsthat were sealed this morning[4].

El Nadeem Centre’s lawyers, Mr. Taher Abulnasr and Ms. Maha Yucef wentto the Azbakeya police station to file a complaint against the illegal closureof the two company flats, which are not included in the MoH closing order ofFebruary 2016, but have been prevented from doing so and had to file acomplaint with the prosecution instead

The Observatory recalls that in February 2016El Nadeem Center filed a complaint before the administrative court to challengethe February 17, 2016 administrative closing order. Since then, the judicialprocess has been ongoing and the final court decision was expected to be madepublic in February 2017. Therefore, the police did not wait for the courtruling regarding the closure of the clinic, and in addition closed twoadditional flats, outside the mandate of the MoH.

Actions requested:

Please write to the authorities of Egypt asking them to:

i. Immediately and unconditionally lift the closure order against ElNadeem Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence and Torture, and unsealits premises to allow its staff to carry out their legitimate human rightsactivities;

ii. Immediately and unconditionally lift the travel ban againstMs. Aida Seif al-Dawla;

iii. Put an end to all forms of harassment against El Nadeem Center, aswell as against all human rights organisations and defenders in Egypt;

iv. Comply with all the provisions of the United Nations Declaration onHuman Rights Defenders, in particular with its Articles 1, 5(b) and 12.2;

v. Ensure in all circumstances respect for human rights and fundamentalfreedoms in accordance with international human rights standards andinternational instruments ratified by Egypt.

Addresses:

· President of the Arab Republic ofEgypt, H.E. Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Fax: +202 2391 1441, Email:p.spokesman@op.gov.eg, Twitter: @AlsisiOfficial

· Prime Minister, Mr. Sherif Ismail. Fax: + 202 2735 6449 / 27958016. Email: primemin@idsc.gov.eg

· Minister of the Interior, Mr. MagdiAbdel-Ghaffar, E-mail: HumanRightsSector@moi.gov.eg, Fax: +202 2579 2031 / 27945529

· Minister of Justice, Mr. MohamedHossam Abdel-Rahim, Fax: +202 2795 8103

· Minister of Social Solidarity, GhadaWaly, Fax: +202 3337 5390

· Public Prosecutor, Counsellor NabeelSadek, Fax: +202 2577 4716

· Mr. Mohamed Fayeq, President of theNational Council For Human Rights, Fax: + 202 25747497 / 25747670. Email:nchr@nchr.org.eg

· H.E. Ms. Wafaa Bassim, Ambassador,Permanent Mission of Egypt to the United Nations in Geneva, Email:mission.egypt@ties.itu.int, Fax: +41 22 738 44 15

· Embassy of Egypt in Brussels, Fax: +322 675.58.88; Email: embassy.egypt@skynet.be

Please also write to the diplomatic missions or embassies of Egypt inyour respective country.

***

Geneva-Paris, March 23, 2017

Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of thisappeal in your reply.

The Observatory for theProtection of Human Rights Defenders (the Observatory) was created in 1997by FIDH and OMCT. The objective of this programme is to prevent or remedysituations of repression against human rights defenders. FIDH and OMCT areboth members of ProtectDefenders.eu, the European UnionHuman Rights Defenders Mechanism implemented by international civil society.

To contact the Observatory, call the emergency line:

• E-mail: Appeals@fidh-omct.org

• Tel and fax OMCT + 41 (0) 22 809 4939 / + 41 22 809 49 29

• Tel and fax FIDH + 33 (0) 1 43 55 2518 / +33 1 43 55 18 80

[1] ElNadeem Center is an independent nongovernmental organisation conductinganti-torture activities in Egypt. It manages a clinic, conducts advocacy,campaigning and provides legal aid to survivors of torture and violence. Theclinic is registered in Egypt both with the Doctors' Syndicate and the Ministryof Health and has provided hundreds of torture victims with vital servicesincluding counseling, long and short term psychotherapy and rehabilitation. TheCenter issues monthly summaries of reported instances of torture, deaths, andmedical negligence in police custody. Many of the Center’s patients say they have been tortured byEgyptian security forces.

See The Observatory Urgent Appeal EGY 005 / 1116 / OBS 102, issued on November 16, 2016.

[3] Thelaw 453/1954 regulates industrial and commercial shops, however, not clinics.The law states that “no business shop subject to this law can be set up or runwithout the relevant license; no changes or amendment in such shops may beexecuted without the approval of entity which issued such license.”

[4] The other two flats belong to ElNadeem Center organisation.