Maat Center for Judicial and Constitutional Studies held its third training course in the framework of project “Freedom for All”. The course organized in Bani Sweif governorate, its activities continued for two days 11&12 August, aimed at training 25 lawyer of Bani Sweif on “legal procedures specialized to defend detainees”.
The course started with the speech of Mr. Ayman Okail, the center’s chairman, and Mr. Mohsen Abo Aql, Bani Sweif lawyer’s chief.
The center chairman’s speech was about the crisis of the continuous announcing of Martial case in Egypt, for a period more than quarter a century, and about the negative effects of this crisis on political, economical, and social life. He also said in his speech that the Emergency case hinders the normal legal organization against the increasing numbers of issued laws which legalize the martial conditions- the matter that reach to put it in the constitution as happened in the latest constitutional amendments and the formation of article No.179 concerning challenging terrorism, as this article dedicate the violation of all guarantees provided by international charters to respect rights and public freedoms ….the mater which predicate more ruining in human rights’ status in Egypt.
Mr. Ayman Okail also asked about the fate of thousands detainees inside the Egyptian jails walls in case of issuing the new terrorism law??
He also expressed the danger of the security bodies’, with its different levels, continuous adoption of policies dedicates security violence principle and political clearances… with all its forms which represent a violation of rights and freedoms. This matter which became a clear phenomenon in Egypt starting with detention, and arresting people without any right, especially as its rates increased lately - reaching to threatening and menacing safe people and condemning them arbitrarily, this added to the coursed torture process still applied widely in jails and detention camps, and especially in the security bodies’ headquarters and police stations.
Mr. Mohsen Abo Aql, Bani Sweif lawyers’ chief confirmed in his speech the importance of the process of raising lawyers’ awareness about the dialectics offered by the martial legal organization. This will contribute to prepare elite of lawyers aware of the real dimensions of the detention issue.
The course program included some lawyers representation of training papers which subjects was about commenting on Martial Law, torture crime in Egyptian legislation and in international charters, legal procedures concerning detainees issues, terrorism challenging between the Egyptian legislation and the international charters, and the judgments’ execution in Administrative Judiciary.
At the end of the course, participants agreed that it is important to work in order to end the martial condition, to announce the discussions held in People Assembly around the new terrorism law, and that all political forces have to participate its formation so it will represent a real guarantee that its formation corresponds to guarantees provided by the Egyptian constitution and international charters to respect rights and freedoms. Some participants demanded the issuing of a new law to assure keeping rights and freedoms and to keep human rights; this law has to include deterring punishments in case of violating any human rights.
Participants confirmed that it is important for the government to change its strategies and to adopt new policies: concerning discard violence, settle social peace, acceptation of the other, and settle democratic principles. This is to avoid results of previous violence policies which cause the spread of danger phenomena in the Egyptian society starting from people abstention of political participation, reaching torture phenomenon in arrest places.