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Since Egypt’s election onto the U.N Rights Council, many have raised their voices questioning credibility of a council dedicated to protecting human rights whose own members are serial abusers of their own citizens. The New York based group Human Rights Watch, who have chronicled many of Egypt’s abuses in a new report, made a plea for the Egyptian government to reform and improve its record on human rights:

“Egypt has for too long committed serious and systematic abuses at home while consistently undermining UN mechanisms to defend rights,” said Joe Stork, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East division. “Now Cairo needs to show that it really intends to turn a new page on human rights and uphold international standards,” he said.

In a 13-page briefing paper, the New York-based watchdog and the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights said Egypt’s human rights record made it a poor choice for membership of the UN’s Human Rights Council.

Egypt was elected May 17 to the rights body, where seats are allocated on a regional geographical basis.

Candidates are evaluated according to criteria such as political rights and freedoms, freedom of the press, and human rights promotion at the UN.

Egypt has been slammed at home and abroad over recent revelations of torture in police stations, and has routinely been criticized for its arbitrary arrests of dissidents and restrictions on civil society.

Earlier this month, rights watchdogs UN Watch and Freedom House described Egypt, Angola, Belarus, and Qatar, who were all vying for a place in the 14-seat Human Rights Council, as “unqualified” for membership.

Egypt was elected to the council according to region, and this article in Al-Ahram Weekly suggests what may have played a role in their successful election:

Although the council’s founding document makes it a condition that election be based on the candidate’s “contribution to the promotion and protection of human rights”, analysts explained that the vote was marked by a lack of competition within three of the five UN regional groups, which only put up as many candidates as there were seats available. Egypt was elected on the African Group’s “closed slate”, with just four countries standing for four seats.

“It all has to do with the brilliant diplomatic efforts on the part of the Egyptian Foreign Ministry in marketing Egypt and getting as many votes as possible — but definitely not with Egypt’s record of human rights practices,” explained Hafez Abu Seada, secretary-general of the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights (EOHR). “After all, countries with even worse records in human rights abuses could similarly win membership on the council,” Abu Seada said.

Mohamed Zarie, director of the Egyptian Human Rights Association for the Assistance of Prisoners, concurred, saying that voting on the UN council “was all a game of power and mutual interests”.

Some countries, according to Abu Seada, would agree to exchange votes in various UN councils and, in Egypt’s case, it could rally support from three major blocs: Islamic, Arab and African countries. Zarie also thought there was a US role behind the success of Egypt, arguing that, “the US has diplomatic and strategic interests with Egypt.”

But it may not all be bad news:

Whatever reasons were behind Egypt’s election on the 47-member UN council, Zarie insists it was not much of a victory. “The Egyptian regime will be mired in an extremely embarrassing situation since it will have to uncover its human rights record to the world,” Zarie said.

Once a council member, a country is supposed to “uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights” and “fully cooperate with the council”. Zarie said that Egypt will also have to allow visits by, and fully cooperation with, the five council special rapporteurs who have outstanding visit requests dating back as far as 1996 (the special rapporteurs cover torture, human rights defenders, freedom of religion or belief, and the independence of judges and lawyers).

Which, Abu Seada says, is more of an advantage than a disadvantage. “This will help enhance the work of non-governmental human rights organisations and will partly compel Egypt to improve its human rights record which will now be exposed to the whole world.:

Read the rest here.

Previous:
Egypt Elected To U.N Rights Council

A new study conducted by the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights (ECWR) claims that 75% of women are harassed in one form or another on a regular basis. The study was done as a part of a wider campaign against sexual harassment, and while it may not be representative of all sectors of society (75% is probably high, yet illustrates an important and relevant point):

Cairo, Egypt (AHN) - A recent report on sexual harassment published in coordination with the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights (ECWR) has highlighted the difficulty of discussing women’s issues in Egypt. “Making our streets safe for everyone: a volunteer campaign to end sexual harassment” was published by ECWR on May 18, but much of the report leaves more questions than answers.

Statistics dominate the report, showing that nearly all women in Egypt experience some form of harassment on a regular basis. According to the report, at least 75 percent of women in Egypt are touched inappropriately or verbally harassed throughout their daily activities.

Rebecca Chiao, the International Relations Officer at ECWR, told All Headline News that she was disappointed in the wording of the Arabic version.

“Some [women] explained harassment as happening because people are going away from religion,” the Arabic report read. It added that other reasons could be a result of how women dress and show themselves on the streets.

“The report was completely volunteer run and we employed a marketing company to conduct focus groups to better understand the data we were getting,” Chiao said. “One of the last focus groups was with working class women and that was a major influence on the writers.

“Working class women [in Egypt] believe it is their fault that harassment happens,” Chiao continued. She argued that it shows that there is still a long way to go before women believe that no form of harassment is okay, no matter what someone is wearing.

“It [the study] gives us a picture of what is going on,” and that can be used for better use of our resources in helping to end sexual harassment, Chiao argued.

Read more about the campaign and what you can do to help here.

Despite a surprising yet welcome development a few days ago, the Administrative Court has ruled to postpone the decision on whether to free Ayman Nour from prison on medical grounds:

CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian court refused to immediately release jailed Egyptian opposition leader Ayman Nour from prison on health grounds on Tuesday but asked for a panel of doctors to have another look at medical reports on his case.

The ruling by the Administrative Court dashed the hopes of Nour’s supporters, who were encouraged to read in the state newspaper al-Ahram on Tuesday morning that the court was expected to set him free after some 18 months in prison.

Some broke down in tears in the courtroom and others shouted out: “Down, down with (President) Hosni Mubarak”.

…

An initial medical report on Nour said he had several serious health problems but could stay in prison if he received the right treatment and diet. Nour, 42, has both diabetes and heart problems.

The judges on Tuesday asked a committee of medical experts to examine the initial report and report back on June 12.

Nour’s lawyer, Amir Salem, said the court’s decision was a disappointment. “The al-Ahram report, for example, gave us a hint that the state had taken a political decision to free Ayman Nour … but this was deceptive,” he told reporters.

Nour’s wife, Gameela Ismail, said she objected to the way the court had linked Nour’s case with that of a drug dealer who is paralysed and who is also seeking release on health grounds.

“I’m sure that when Ayman Nour hears of this … he will be deeply aggrieved,” she told reporters.

It seems to me that he will be released eventually, but that it will be on the government’s terms, and nobody else’s. However, given that he has a legitimate excuse to be pardoned (not to mention allegations of abuse), why has the international media largely forgotten about him?

From a Gulfnews article on diminishing American pressure for democracy in the region, here’s a little snippet about the U.S ambassador to Egypt:

Ricciardone recently told Egyptian television, “Here in Egypt as in the US, there is freedom of speech.” Boucher told Voice of America, “I think the Pakistani government is moving forward; they’re moving toward elections.”

Ricciardone’s comments were not a slip of the tongue and the transcript of his television interview was posted on the website of the American embassy in Cairo.

When asked by CNN International recently to comment on the torture and continued detention of Egyptian dissident Ayman Nour, an embassy spokesman refused to be drawn into criticism of President Hosni Mubarak’s government. Instead, the spokesman insisted that the US believed Egypt was “making prog-ress” towards democracy.

The ambassador’s proc-lamation and his spokes-man’s description of a regime that arrests and tortures dissidents as reflecting progress is far from reality.

Apparently “progress” is measured with a different stick in Egypt.

A quick Google News search on Ayman Nour shows that as of now no major news sites (IHT has a small story) have picked up the story yet. (Updated: a few sites have picked up bits and pieces of the Reuters and AP stories written, no major U.S site yet) This would seem to be the ideal time to re-launch the campaign to free him, and possibly shed some light on Egypt’s appointment to the new Human Rights Council at the U.N.

Previous:
Ayman Nour May Be Released
Ayman Nour Assaulted In Prison: Wife

Egypt has released 135 prisoners who had previously been associated with the extremist group Al-Jihad, after they signed statements renouncing violence. The prisoners had all been jailed for over a decade for participation in the extremist group, which has been blamed for Anwar Sadat’s assasination. Here is a little more info about the group (CNS):

Ideology: The group seeks to establish Islamic rule in Egypt by force and targets any secular establishment that they believe to be heretical, especially secular Arab governments. Al-Jihad al-Islami’s primary goal is to “overthrow the Egyptian government and replace it with an Islamic state,” and to attack “U.S. and Israeli interests in Egypt and abroad.”[1,2]

Description: The group has been called an “Egyptian Islamic extremist group” active since the late 1970s, and a “close partner of Bin Laden’s Al-Qaida organization.” Al-Jihad al-Islami is a large, loosely organized militant group active since the late 1970s in Egypt. Most of the group’s attacks have been against Egyptian and other government officials.[1,2] Al-Jihad al-Islami is believed to pursue more high-profile government targets than other Egyptian Islamist groups.

Group Leader: unknown; spiritual leader Sheikh Omar Abd al-Rahman, suspected leader Ayman al-Zawahiri

The leader of another extremist group Al-Gamaa Al Islamiyya issued a statement renouncing violence (to an extent) and even appealing to Al-Qaeda to do the same:

 

“I’m … appealing to … brothers in al-Qaida organization everywhere,” Ibrahim’s statement said. “I’m appealing to you to stop and review your stances, to put your effort, the Jihad (holy war) … in the right place and time, away from infighting among Muslims … away from killing civilians, both Muslims and non Muslims.”

“My beloved brothers in al-Qaida: Islamic movements revising ideas and views in religion and life is not a sign of weakness but a proof of strength and vitality,” he added.

 

The leaders of Al-Jihad made their appeal from within prison.

On the same day, over 40 members of the Muslim Brotherhood were detained:

The detentions bring to at least 40 the number of members held since Saturday morning in parallel with what the movement says is an attempt to disrupt its plans to contest June 11 elections for the upper house of parliament.

The Interior Ministry said the 16 detained on Monday were “organizationally linked to … the Muslim Brotherhood’s secret organization”.

Mohamed Mursi, a member of the Brotherhood’s Guidance Office, said that such an organization did not exist. “The group is well known and operates in the open,” he told Reuters.

The latest detainees include Abdel Aziz Abdel Kader, the deputy leader of the organization in the Nile Delta province of Sharkia, where police rounded up 14 members on Saturday, the Brotherhood said on its Web site, www.ikhwanonline.com.

Mursi said the people detained on Saturday were on a Brotherhood training course on how to manufacture and market detergents and household cleaning products. They had nothing to do with any political activity by the movement, he added.

The first person to seriously challenge Hosni Mubarak for his presidency in an open election may be freed from Egyptian prison, due to his deteriorating medical condition:

CAIRO, May 22–Egyptian opposition leader Ayman Nour could be released Tuesday on medical grounds after a year in jail, Egyptian press said.

The Al-Ahram daily said on its front page that an administrative tribunal is set to examine his request for release due to his deteriorating health and “a positive decision over his release is expected”.

The opposition leader who heads the Al-Ghad party was sentenced in December 2005 to five years in prison on fraud charges, widely seen as politically motivated.

Nour came a distant second in the country’s first ever multi-candidate presidential elections in September 2005, which the opposition dismissed as widely rigged.

According to rights groups, Nour who suffers from diabetes and a heart complication has seen his health deteriorating rapidly in jail.

The former lawmaker became famous around the world following his January 2005 imprisonment by the Mubarak government.

The incarceration was seen around the world as politically motivated, causing a lot of internal anger and foreign pressure for his release.

Previous:
Ayman Nour Assaulted In Prison: Wife

Egypt has been elected to a new Rights Council in the U.N, created in order to replace the heavily criticized Human Rights Commission, despite the numerous recorded abuses of its’ citizens:

Human rights groups had called on the General Assembly to vote against Belarus as well as Egypt, Qatar and Angola, countries which have been cited for poor human rights records. However, those three countries were running uncontested, and easily gained passage to the council.

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, said he was generally pleased with the results.

“I was particularly heartened by the election of Bosnia, and congratulate the Bosnians,” he said. “This bodes well for the reform of the Human Rights Council that is very much needed.”

The Human Rights council was created in 2006, replacing the largely discredited U.N. Human Rights Commission. One aim of the new council is to keep chronic human rights abusers off its roster.

So they failed at the first thing they aimed to do. Just a few examples of Egypt’s distinguished human rights record:

Ayman Nour Assaulted In Prison: Wife
Military Tribunals For Citizens
Egyptian Bloggers Detained
Egyptian Executive Control
Torture In Egypt

Previous:
Egypt ‘Unqualified’ For U.N Rights Council

My post at Mideast Youth:

The Organization of the Islamic Conference concluded at the end of a meeting Wednesday that Islamophobia has become the “worst form of terrorism.” Foreign Ministers and representatives of Islamic societies gathered in Islamabad for the 34th annual Islamic Conference of FM’s, and spoke in unison in highlighting what they percieved as negative attitudes towards followers of their religion living in the West. An article in the Arab News had this to say:

“The increasingly negative political and media discourse targeting Muslims and Islam in the United States and Europe has made things all the more difficult,” the foreign ministers said. “Islamophobia became a source of concern, especially after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, but the phenomenon was already there in Western societies in one form or the other,” they pointed out. “It gained further momentum after the Madrid and London bombings. The killing of Dutch film director Theo van Gogh in 2004 was used in a wicked manner by certain quarters to stir up a frenzy against Muslims,” the ministers pointed out. Van Gogh had made a controversial film about Muslim culture.

The Foreign Ministers seem to have a grip on what is causing Islamophobia, correctly highlighting events in Holland, Spain, and the United States that have certainly provided backlash on Muslim communities. Yet, in this same context, is Islamophobia really the largest form of terrorism?

Continue reading here…

An Egyptian engineer, charged with selling classified information to Israeli intelligence with the aim of harming national security, stunned a courtroom Tuesday by openly praising Israel’s achievements in science and technology:

Mohammed Sayed Saber, 35, a nuclear engineer with Egypt’s atomic agency, has been charged with stealing secret documents and giving them to Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, in exchange for $17,000 and with the aim to harm Egyptian national security, the prosecutor said. An upbeat Saber appeared before the judge in a white prison jumpsuit at the start of his trial Tuesday, smiling and flashing a victory sign to media crammed into a dusty Cairo courtroom.

”I don’t hide my admiration of Israel … It has reached a very high technological and scientific level,” Saber said in court. ”To seek to benefit from Israel scientific expertise, is not shameful or wrong … They are a very organized and pragmatic society with definite goals, unlike chaotic societies.” ”I don’t have animosity toward the Israeli people, why should I? The fact that we had wars against Israel doesn’t mean that we remain enemies forever,” added Saber, who has never visited the Jewish state.

The hearings were adjourned till June 9. Saber, who faces up to 25 years in jail on espionage charges, did not enter a plea Tuesday.

Saber’s pro-Israeli speech was so unusual that Judge Mohammed Reda Shwakat, presiding over the three-judge panel at south Cairo state security court, called him from the defendant’s cage to the bench where he then questioned him for almost four hours in the presence of three defense lawyers.

The “landmark verdict” that declared the trying of civilians in Egyptian military tribunals unconstitutional last week has been reversed by the Supreme Administrative Judge, through orders of the President:

CAIRO — Egypt Monday upheld a decision by President Hosni Mubarak to have 40 members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood group tried by a military court, a judicial source said.

Supreme Administrative Court Judge Essam Abdel Aziz reversed a May 8 ruling in a lower court which declared invalid the president’s decision, the source said.

The military trial of the men, charged with money laundering and financing a banned organization, will resume June 3.

The judge at the May ruling, Mohammed Al Husseini, said a military court would not “assure a fair trial” and the verdict was then described as “historic and unprecedented” by the banned but tolerated Brotherhood.

One of the accused is the Brotherhood’s financier and third-ranking official, Khayrat Al Shater.

The defendants and around 100 relatives had filed a suit against Mubarak but the president’s lawyers argued that he had “absolute power” in the matter.

Husseini said “there is nothing in Egyptian law called absolute power, so [Mubarak’s] decision is illegal, because every decision must be based on the law and the constitution.”

Egyptian authorities have kept Shater and the other accused behind bars in spite of a civilian court order in January to free the men. (Middle East Times)

Previous:
Verdict: Military Tribunals For Civilians “Unconstitutional”
Verdict Challenged By Government

For Israel. Surprise, surprise. Its the Jews! Haleh Esfandiari has now been charged with with attempting to launch “a democratic revolution”. I thought Iran was already a democracy? The Iranians also uncovered a vast Zionist plot involving Mossad as well:

Iran’s foreign ministry on Sunday confirmed the government had detained a prominent American-Iranian academic who traveled to the country in December to visit her 93-year-old mother.

The admission by ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini came a day after the hard-line Iranian newspaper Kayhan accused Haleh Esfandiari of spying for the U.S. and Israel and for attempting to launch a democratic revolution in the country.

“She will be treated as other Iranian nationals, said Hosseini during his weekly press briefing. It is natural if there is any problem, it will be handled by authorities.”

Although Hosseini said Esfandiari’s detention was based on law, he did not provide further details on why the director of the Middle East Program at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars was being held.

The Kayhan newspaper was more explicit in its allegations against Esfandiari, who the Wilson Center has said was detained on Dec. 30 by three masked men with knives as she was on her way to the airport.

“She has been one of the main elements of Mossad in driving a velvet revolution strategy in Iran, the paper wrote. She formed two networks, including Iranian activists, in the U.S and Dubai for toppling down [the Islamic government]“.
(Haaretz)

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