No Access to Prisons for Amnesty International Delegates
- From: "Muslim News" <editor_@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <submit@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 13 Oct 2002 22:22:56 +0100
PRESS RELEASE
Washington, DC
An Amnesty International delegation has just returned from a
fact-finding mission in Egypt, during which it was denied access to
prisoners and detainees.
"We regret that the Egyptian authorities did not permit us to conduct
interviews with several men and women held in Egyptian prisons," Amnesty
International said today.
The delegates met with civil society activists, victims of human rights
violations and their relatives, as well as Egyptian officials.
A list of men and women, including prisoners of conscience and possible
prisoners of conscience, whom the organization had planned to meet, was
submitted to the Egyptian authorities over one month prior to travel.
However, permission to visit any of those mentioned on the list was
denied by the authorities. The list included:
human rights activist Saad Eddin Ibrahim, sentenced on appeal to seven
years' imprisonment on 29 July 2002 by the Supreme State Security Court,
on charges of accepting foreign funds without authorization,
disseminating false information harmful to Egypt's interest, and
embezzlement;
three British citizens, Maajid Nawaz, Ian Malcolm Nisbett, and Reza
Pankhurst, who were arrested on 1 April 2002. Their trial, before the
(Emergency) Supreme State Security Court, is scheduled to begin on 20
October 2002 in connection with their alleged affiliation with the
banned Hizb al-Tahrir al-Islami (Islamic Liberation Party). The three
men as well as Egyptian nationals who were detained in the same case
were reportedly subjected to torture or ill-treatment in the initial
period of their detention;
Sa'd Zaghlul al-'Ashmawi Muhammad Sabir al-'Ashmawi, Muhammad Badi'a
'Abd al-Magid, and Ahmad Ibrahim Ahmad al-Halawani, sentenced to five
years' imprisonment in November 2000, for their alleged affiliation with
the banned Muslim Brotherhood.
Manal Wahid Mana'i, mother of five, who was sentenced in September 2000
by an exceptional court - established under emergency laws - to five
years' imprisonment under charges of contempt of religion. She was
accused of being the leader of a religious group, which allegedly
attributes divine status to a late Sufi Sheikh.
Source: Amnesty International
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