The Skeptic الشكاك

651 African Appeal for Eritreans in Egypt

Via the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies:

Sharm El Sheikh
23 June 2008

Urgent Appeal to African Leaders:
Put an end to Egypt’s deportation of Eritrean asylum seekers

We, the undersigned organizations, call upon African leaders attending the African Union (AU) summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, to urge Egypt to respect its obligations under international law and to cease immediately the deportation of Eritrean asylum seekers. Starting 11 June 2008 Egyptian authorities have forcibly returned more than 700 Eritrean asylum seekers to Eritrea, where there is a significant risk that they will be subjected to arbitrary detention, torture and other inhuman and degrading treatment by the Eritrean government. Hundreds of others are detained in several police stations across Egypt awaiting deportation back to Eritrea. Some of these individuals were previously recognized as refugees by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in Sudan, and fled to Cairo to avoid being forcibly returned to Eritrea by the Sudanese authorities.

By deporting these individuals, Egypt lies in violation of its obligations under the 1969 Organization of African Unity (OAU) Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa, the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the UN Convention Against Torture, all of which oblige state parties to respect the principle of non-refoulement. The deportation of the Eritrean asylum seekers was also done in complete disregard to recent UNHCR guidelines distributed to all governments and stating that rejected Eritrean asylum seekers should not be returned to Eritrea. A number of NGOs have also called upon the Egyptian government to cease the deportations.

The undersigned organizations are urging African leaders to:

• Urge the Egyptian government to respect its commitment to the principle of non-refoulement and to cease the forcibly return of Eritrean asylum-seekers who face a significant risk of torture and ill-treatment
• Call on the Eritrean government to stop all acts of arbitrary arrest and detention, torture and inhuman and degrading treatment;
• To grant unhindered access by UNHCR staff to detained asylum seekers in order to ensure the careful consideration of every asylum application filed by Eritrean individuals;
• To urge both Egyptian and Eritrean authorities to allow, without delay, access by humanitarian and human rights groups to detained Eritreans, and to fully respect their human rights in accordance with the AU Constitutive Act and the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights;
• To invite the Special Rapporteur for Refugees, Asylum Seekers, IDPs and Migrants of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights to investigate and report on these events as a matter of urgency.

We thank you for taking note of our concerns

1. ACORD International;
2. Action Aid International – Africa;
3. Action for Conflict Transformation;
4. Advocates Africa;
5. African Public Health Alliance;
6. African Women Development And Comunication Network FEMNET;
7. Afroflag Youth Vision;
8. Algerian Coordination for Families of The Missing;
9. Al-Nadeem Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence;
10. Arab Program for Human Rights Activists;
11. Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies;
12. Civic Monitor for Human Rights;
13. Collectif des Associations et ONG Féminines du Burundi (CAFOB) ;
14. Conseil National pour les libertés en Tunisie (CNLT) ;
15. Darfur Consortium;
16. Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights;
17. Egyptian Organization for Human Rights;
18. Fahamu;
19. FAMEDEV : Inter Africa Network for Women Media, Gender, Equity And Development;
20. Fédération International des ligues des Droits de l’Homme ;
21. International Refugee Rights Initiative;
22. Khartoum Center for Human Rights and Environmental Development;
23. Land Center for Human Rights ;
24. Ligue Tunisienne pour la défense des droits de l’homme (LTDH) ;
25. Organisation Marocaine pour les Défense des Droits Humains ;
26. Participatory Ecologoical Land Use Association;
27. Peace And Development Platform;
28. West African Network for Peace Building (WANEP);
29. WOLPNET – Women of Liberia Peace Network;
30. Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum;

650 The Ambassador’s Dog, and Other Stories

The soupy season has begun. I’m starting to think there was a wisdom to the enforced idleness (and replenishment of the soil’s nutrients and washing-away of the salt in the soil) the flood used to bring. It’s too hot to do anything fast.

A few quick items in the meantime:

• Via Arabist‘s del.icio.us feed: Margaret Scobey, the new U.S. ambassador to Egypt, is grieving for her dog. It was poisoned soon after she arrived in Cairo. The Al-Hayat story is 90-percent bullshit, but I hear through the grapevine that it is true that Ambassador Scobey is taking the dog’s death seriously. I’m sorry for your loss, Ambassador. Pooch is in a better place. It’s time to move on.
• As Egyptian Culture Minister Farouq Hosny’s bid to become director of UNESCO nears, he seems to care less about domestic opinion (long pitted against him), and more about getting what must be the cushiest job in the world. His two-faced pronouncements about cultural exchange with Israel have prompted outcry from Zionists and Muslim Brotherhood members of Parliament alike. See the Wall Street Journal‘s review. If Hosny gets the job, and I expect he will (it’s an Arab’s turn), I’m less interested in what will happen to UNESCO’s policy on Egyptian-Israeli cultural exchange (nothing) than what will happen to the Ring Road. Apparently UNESCO opposition prevented it from running through the desert around the Pyramids, as the government had planned.
• Congratulations to steel magnate and ruling-party whip Ahmed Ezz, who successfully campaigned to get penalties for monopolistic business practices cut in half. I have long wondered how Ezz’s steel empire, which the Egyptian brokerage HC estimates has 68 percent of the local market, has not run afoul of the 2005 Anti-Monopoly Law, which set a 25-percent limit on market share.
• Some of Egypt’s most famous bloggers with an interest in human rights, including Alaa Seif, Malek Moustafa, Wael Abbas, and Nora Younis, are participating in a conference on the Internet organized by the government’s National Council on Human Rights today. They hoped representatives of the relevant ministries would attend. I’m sorry I missed it, but check their blogs for accounts of how it went.
• An informer at the Cairo Marriott has turned in a tourist for possessing a video tape on sectarian tensions in Egypt.

649 ICG on the Brothers

Issandr’s long-awaited (by me, anyway) ICG report on the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood is out. I’m still reading, but so far it looks very strong. Executive summary and recommendations reproduced after the break. Full report as a PDF here.

The Society of Muslim Brothers’ success in the November-December 2005 elections for the People’s Assembly sent shockwaves through Egypt’s political system. In response, the regime cracked down on the movement, harassed other potential rivals and reversed its fledging reform process. This is dangerously short-sighted. There is reason to be concerned about the Muslim Brothers’ political program, and they owe the people genuine clarifications about several of its aspects. But the ruling National Democratic Party’s (NDP) refusal to loosen its grip risks exacerbating tensions at a time of both political uncertainty surrounding the presidential succession and serious socio-economic unrest. Though this likely will be a prolonged, gradual process, the regime should take preliminary steps to normalise the Muslim Brothers’ participation in political life.
More…

648 Amnesty: 490 More Eritreans Deported

Amnesty is reporting an additional 490 Eritreans have been deported from Egypt, bringing the total to 900.

Their statement below:

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

PUBLIC AI Index: MDE 12/013/2008
16 June 2008

Further Information on UA 165/08 (MDE 12/011/2008, 12 June 2008) – Forcible return/Fear of torture or other ill-treatment

EGYPT Up to 900 Eritrean asylum-seekers

A further 490 Eritrean asylum-seekers were deported to Massawa in Eritrea, on special daily Egypt Air flights from Aswan International airport. Hundreds more are apparently detained at Central Security Forces camp in Shallal, south of Aswan. The camp has served as a gathering point for asylum-seekers before they are taken to Aswan airport. On 12 June, a security official confirmed that 200 Eritreans had been “sent back home” the previous day.

On 15 June, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Egypt announced that the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Egypt would be granted access to the Eritreans to assess their asylum claims.

According to information available to Amnesty International, about 270 Eritreans have been transported to Shallal camp from police stations in the Red Sea cities of Hurghada, Halayeb and Shalateen, and 35 from Aswan police station. All police stations near Aswan as well as Idfu police station, north of Aswan, are now empty of Eritrean asylum-seekers; most of them were deported but some are still detained in Shallal camp. Among those who had been detained in Idfu and are now believed to have been deported are about 25 Eritreans who had been awaiting a court ruling on charges of illegal entry to Egypt, scheduled for 21 June.

On 12 June, 200 Eritrean asylum-seekers were reportedly deported, and a further 90 on 15 June, all on Egypt Air flights. On 13 and 14 June, 200 were similarly reportedly deported on two flights carrying 100 each.

The asylum-seekers were told they were being deported. Some begged the security forces not to deport them and even threatened to kill themselves. They were searched to make sure they were not carrying anything they could use to harm themselves. They did not physically resist being put on the plane, but continued to cry and beg for mercy. Among the asylum-seekers were women and children.

Since 11 June, the Egyptian authorities have organized mass deportation of Eritrean asylum-seekers. So far about 690 have been reportedly deported; up to 900 more are at risk of deportation.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has issued guidelines to all governments opposing return to Eritrea of rejected Eritrean asylum seekers on the grounds of the record of serious human rights violations in Eritrea. These guidelines are still in force.

Refugees and asylum-seekers returned to Eritrea have been detained incommunicado, and tortured. Two asylum-seekers returned to Eritrea by the German authorities on 14 May are believed to have been arrested on arrival, and have not been seen since. Another asylum-seeker returned from the UK in November 2007 was detained in inhumane conditions and ill-treated before being released.

Thousands of people are detained incommunicado in Eritrea, in secret and indefinitely, without charge or trial. They have been arrested for suspected opposition to the government, practicing their religious beliefs as members of banned evangelical or other churches, evading military conscription or trying to flee the country.

646 The Eritreans

The AP reports that seven Eritrean asylum-seekers escaped as police transferred them from one prison to another, in preparation for sending them back home. Police recaptured five, but two are still on the run.

Amnesty International has been campaigning on the asylum-seekers’ behalf:

Egypt must stop fights to torture in Eritrea

The Egyptian authorities are preparing to forcibly return up to 1,200 asylum-seekers to Eritrea. This follows the deportation of 200 people on Thursday evening and 200 others on Wednesday 11 June. Amnesty International has said that the organization fears 180 more might be deported today, late in the evening.

Asylum-seekers returned to Eritrea are at risk of torture and other ill-treatment, particularly those who have fled from compulsory military service. Most are likely to be arbitrarily detained incommunicado in inhumane conditions for weeks, sometimes years.

Amnesty International has urged the Egyptian authorities to stop all forcible returns to Eritrea. The organization also asked that all Eritrean asylum-seekers be given immediate access to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Egypt to assess their asylum claims.

The 200 asylum-seekers deported yesterday evening were put on a special EgyptAir flight in Aswan International airport. Most of them had been detained for months in Nasr al Nuba police station near Aswan city, but were moved to Central Security Forces camp in Shallal, south of Aswan, before deportation. They include women and children.

When the asylum seekers learned they were to be deported back to Eritrea, they implored the security forces not to do so and some even threatened to kill themselves. They were then searched to make sure they did not carry any object they could use to harm themselves. The asylum-seekers didn’t physically resist being put on the airplane but continued to cry and beg.

The 200 asylum-seekers deported the day before, on Wednesday, had been detained in a Central security forces camp in Shallal in Aswan city. They were told they would be transported to the UNHCR office in Cairo.

Their lawyers tried to reach them the same evening to offer medication and food, but could not get to them. The Eritreans were in fact taken to Aswan International airport and put on a special EgyptAir flight to Eritrea.

Of the further 1,200 Eritrean asylum-seekers facing deportation, hundreds are detained in several police stations near Aswan city. Dozens are detained in Al-Qanater prison near the capital, Cairo.

Around 700 are held near the Red Sea cities of Hurghada and Marsa Alam. Lawyers representing the asylum-seekers held in Aswan believe that 200 of those held in Hurghada are being transported to Aswan, in preparation for forcible return.

Since the end of February, flows of Eritrean asylum-seekers have reached Egypt either via its southern border with Sudan or by sea, south of the city of Hurghada. Others are recognized as refugees by the UNHCR in Sudan, and are fleeing Sudan to avoid being forcibly returned to Eritrea by the Sudanese authorities.

Hundreds of the Eritrean asylum-seekers in Aswan were charged with illegal entry in Egypt and were sentenced to a suspended one-month prison term. They were, however, kept in administrative detention by orders of the Ministry of Interior, as granted under the Emergency law in Egypt.

The UNHCR issued guidelines to all governments opposing the return to Eritrea of rejected Eritrean asylum-seekers on the grounds of the record of serious human rights violations in Eritrea. These guidelines are still in force.

Two asylum-seekers returned to Eritrea by the German authorities on 14 May are believed to have been arrested on arrival and have not been seen since. Another asylum-seeker returned from the UK in November 2007 was detained in inhumane conditions and ill-treated before being released.

Thousands are detained in Eritrea, in secret and indefinitely, without charge or trial. They have been arrested for suspected opposition to the government, practicing their religious beliefs as members of banned evangelical or other churches, evading military conscription or trying to flee the country.

644 ‘Crap Cannon’

As one who sometimes monitors demonstrations in Egypt, I hope this isn’t on the Egyptian government’s U.S.-military-aid shopping list:

FOX News: Political activists planning protest rallies at the upcoming Democratic Convention in Denver have their stomachs in knots over a rumor about a crowd control weapon – known as the “crap cannon” – that might be unleashed against them.

Also called “Brown Note,” it is believed to be an infrasound frequency that debilitates a person by making them defecate involuntarily.

Mark Cohen, co-founder of Re-create 68, an alliance of local activists working for the protection of first amendment rights, said he believes this could be deployed at the convention in August to subdue crowds.

“We know this weapon and weapons like it have been used at other large protests before,” he said.

Update: It’s a myth. Can’t believe anything you see/read on Fox.

643 Obama on the Nile (and just West of it)

Recently I visited Cairo and ate a sumptuous dinner by the Nile with some American-educated guys the government sent my way because they can “talk the talk,” and everyone knows the Americans eat that shit up. There was also a rich businessman with good political connections, likely a member of the American Chamber of Commerce. Knowing that I’m a columnist at a Democrat newspaper, they seemed excited at the prospect of an Obama presidency.

I met with an Embassy guy who privately liked Obama. He told me about many similar dinners with similar people, but I also met with our local bureau chief, who told me about an encounter he’d had with an ordinary person once. I talked to a few people who complained about Obama’s stance on Israel, on his casually asserting that Jerusalem is the “eternal, undivided” capital of Israel. They complained about America’s policy on Israel in general, but we won’t get in to that. What I really want to talk about is how we can all give ourselves a pat on the back for letting a black man get this far.

Come to think of it, this is boring. Let’s talk about Col. Muammar al-Qadhafi instead. He’s predictably zany and insulting. I’m just predictable.

If we’re going to talk about North African views on Obama, let’s hear from a (albeit eccentric) North African. According to Brother Leader, “our Kenyan brother’s” comments on Jerusalem were either a lie to help him get elected or stemmed from insecurity about the color of his skin.

“We tell him to be proud of himself as a black and to feel that all of Africa is behind him,” Brother Leader said.

I’m still chuckling. For the sake of harmony between nations, I hope Obama is too.

642 Their Own Worst Enemies

With senior leaders and financiers in prison following a secret, military trial, and the political aspirations of the group checked by perennial arrest campaigns, the Brothers are now proving to be their own worst enemies:

• Making support for female genital cutting a centerpiece of their opposition to the government in Parliament. On Saturday, the People’s Assembly passed legislation criminalizing the practice, raising the minimum age for marriage, and allowing women to obtain birth certificates for babies whose paternity is not known. Brotherhood MPs opposed all three provisions.
• Squabbling over leadership and opaque internal administration: Internal “elections” for the Guidance Council, the group’s executive body, at the beginning of the month prompted protest from senior members and young, Brotherhood bloggers. Salah Shalwi, the exiled head of the Libyan branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, resigned earlier this week. In an interview published in the Algerian newspaper Al-Khabar today, he called on Supreme Guide Mohammed Mahdi Akef to do the same.

(As an aside on the uncomfortable subject of female genital cutting, a friend last night shared his theory that Egyptians’ obsession with impotence and Viagra is a result of the practice. I was expecting him to go into a political explanation—something about the humiliation of defeat and the death of the Arab Nationalist project, blah blah blah—but instead he started talking about unresponsive women. I am singularly unqualified to offer an opinion. So talk amongst yourselves.)

(As an aside on the subject of Libya, President Hosni Mubarak is not going there to attend a summit on a Mediterranean security alliance. The president’s office says he’s too busy. An anonymous official says Mubarak’s not going so he doesn’t have to see Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.)

641 Police Disperse Large Bread Protest

Just when it appeared the government had successfully weathered the immediate bread crisis by increasing the supply of subsidized bread to Egypt’s poorest neighborhoods and cracking down on black-market sales of subsidized flour, a protest in the Mediterranean town of Al-Borolos has shown the current solution to be tenuous.

Eight thousand protesters blocked off the coastal highway linking Egypt to Libya on Saturday, apparently to protest a cut in the amount of subsidized flour to be distributed to Al-Borolos’ fishermen. Police used rubber bullets and tear gas to clear the demonstration. Residents say riot police detained pregnant women and hit children.

If I understand the press reports correctly, the protests succeeded: A meeting between the local governor, senior members of the NDP, and Hamdeen Sabbahi, the leader of the unlicensed opposition Al-Karama (Dignity) Party who holds a seat in Parliament as an independent, produced an agreement whereby the fishermen will now be able to buy subsidized flour at LE 2/kg, down from LE 2.8/kg.

Update, June 10: See Mariam Fam’s good story in the WSJ, which leads with events in al-Borolos, today.

640 ‘The Lobby’ in the News

Two items:

• Professors Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer, barred from speaking at many American universities, are going to Israel to talk about the Israel lobby.
• Sen. Barack Obama’s nauseating performance at AIPAC, in which he gave away occupied East Jerusalem with one careless line in exchange for votes and campaign contributions he probably already had. Disappointing because he set a policy on Jerusalem that will come back to haunt him and the Arab residents of East Jerusalem should he become president. Disappointing because after all his talk about standing up to the poisonous influence of lobbies in Washington, Obama paid obeisance to one of the most poisonous, only hours after clinching the Democratic nomination. I suppose he was talking about the evil clean-air lobby, the sinister no-nuke lobby, and those fifth-columnists, American farmers.
  The remarks were noticed in the Egyptian press.

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