Egypt

Cairo 7^th May 2008

NGOs urge the Egyptian president to stop application

of the Emergency Law and not renew it

The signatory non-governmental organisations to this statement urge His Excellency the Egyptian President Hosny Mobarak not to extend the application of Emergency Law 162 [1958] and the state of emergency for a further period.

 The signatory non-governmental organisations to this statement point out that the extension of the state of emergency and the application of this exceptional law, in force for 29 years since 1981, is an obstacle to the comprehensive reform aimed at by Egyptian society and all political, social and economic forces.

 These organisations believe that the application of this exceptional law has no basis in reality and is not justified by the reasons described in Law 162 [1958] which permits the declaration of a state of emergency according to the provisions of its article 1: “a state of emergency may be declared whenever security, public order or the Republic or an area of it is exposed to danger, whether this be through the outbreak of war or the occurrence of a situation which threatens the outbreak of war, internal disturbances, public disasters or the spread of an epidemic.”

 Given that ordinary laws – especially given that these laws contain provisions able to counter the terrorism the government has used as  pretext to extend the application of the Emergency Law – guarantee stability, the extension of the application of this law loses the basis of its legitimacy because its application is not in conformity with the reasons provided in the law itself which justify the announcement of a state of emergency.

 The application of the Emergency Law will not, as the government envisages, lead to greater stability. Rather, it will compound the international community’s view of Egypt as an unstable area and the existence of an exceptional, permanent state of emergency provides evidence of this. The State would like to convince the world and investors that Egypt is genuinely stable. The extension of the state of emergency and the application of the exceptional law will lead to opposite reactions which will affect the country’s economy in the coming stage.

 With regard to government pledges not to use the Emergency Law against thinkers and writers: the law only addresses terrorism, but the signatory non-governmental organisations’ monitoring of daily incidents reaffirms that this exceptional law is used to target journalists, union members and those working within the field of human rights. There is no better evidence of this than the cases currently being heard by the emergency state security court and the military court even though a group of provisions of an exceptional nature in the Penal Code known as the terrorism law are sufficient to combat terrorism.

Even if laws similar to these do exist in the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, France and Germany, they have not however been applied for 29 years despite the fact that Egypt enjoys stability greater than that of these countries. The period of application of these laws in these countries is surrounded by a great many safeguard mechanisms which ensure that they do not undermine citizens’ fundamental rights and freedoms such as their right to stand before a natural judge – a right which the application of the Emergency Law in Egypt has destroyed.

 Wishing for comprehensive reform, the signatory non-governmental organisations urge the President of the Republic to re-think the extension of the state of emergency – which expires on 31^st May 2008 – for the sake of the country’s stability and out of respect for Egypt’s international obligations.

 They also call on the President to implement his promise, made during a speech delivered during the presidential elections, that the state of emergency would be annulled either in May 2008 or after the drafting of a counter-terrorism law, whichever arrives first.

 Signatory organisations:

1. The Arab Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession
2. The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights
3. The Group for Democratic Development
4. The Arab Penal Reform Organization
5. The Arab Program for Human Rights Activists
6. The Human Rights Association for the Assistance of Prisoners
7. The Hisham Mobarak Law Center
8. The Land Center for Human Rights
9. The Center for Arab Research
10. The Egyptian Association for Advancement through Social Participation
11. The Arab Institute for Civil Society Support and Human Rights
12. The One World Institute for Development and Civil Society Support
13. The Center for Rural Studies
14. The Egyptian Association for Scientific and Technological Development
15. The Egyptian Center for Children’s Rights
16. The Egyptian Association for the Support of Democratic Development
17. The Kalima Center for Human Rights
18. The Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights
19. The South Center for Human Rights
20. The Center for Studies and Alternative Development Programs
21. The Center for Telecommunications Appropriate for Development (ACT)
22. The Dialog Institute for Development and Human Rights
23. The Center for the Development of Democratic Dialog
24. The Ibn Khaldun Center
25. Swasya Center for Human Rights & Anti Discrimination  

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