More on the Judges Crackdown

News from Egypt: Yesterday Mr Amir Salem and Mr Ehab el Kholy, were taken and interrogated by state security prosecution for inciting masses and insulting the president. These charges, which I believe to be politically motivated, could bring jail time. Both lawyers represent Ayman Nour, who is three weeks away from his appeal. Both are also leading and recognizable human rights defenders.

Mr Salem,53, is the head of the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights and one of the founders of human rights in Egypt, He is also establishing a new party and is the head of "Lawyers for change movement" and finally, he is the head of Nour's defense team.

Ehab Kholy,43, is a liberal opposition political activist, head of the organisation committee at El Ghad party, Nour's lawyer and was also in charge of mobilizing members in support for judges and for Nour.

Both were among eight or so activists arrested in addition to the crackdown on the judges. Also arrested was Emad Farid, executive director of El Ghad information and media center was also arrested, interrogated and imprisoned for 15 days.

This is horrible, though not unexpected news. The only sign of hope is this is an act of a nervous government, perhaps sensing how tenuous is its legitimacy.

Government Crackdown on Reformers

Press reports and activists are reporting that police attacked reform demonstrators in Cairo today. The demonstrators were showing support for two pro-reform judges who had been brought before a disciplinary board for accusing the judiciary of helping fix elections.

Outside, the government's usual strong-arm tactics were on display. Inside, the actual hearing of the two judges was adjorned until May 11 after one hour.

Here is a list sent by Egyptian activists of activists taken by state security intelligence yesterday evening from in front of the judges club in Cairo:

Kamal Khalil (Center for Socialist Studies)
Ibrahim El Sahari (Center for Socialist Studies)
Islam Hanafi
Akram El Irani
Bahaa Saber
Hussein Mohamed Ali (Ghad party)
Khaled Ali
Saher Gad (journalist)
Seif Abdallah (Karama party)
Tarek Hassan
Karim Mohamed
Malek Mostafa
Mohamed El Agami
Mohamed Daridir
Mohamed Adel (injured)
Mohamed Abdel Rahman
Mohamed Fawzi Imam
Yasser Badran
Gamal Abdel Fattah
Sameh Mohamed Said
Sami Diab

The following activists were beaten up by the police in front of the press syndicate
Karem Mahmoud
Rasha Azab
Nada Qassas
Ali El Tayyeb
The following activists were kidnapped by state security intelligence yesterday evening from in front of the judges club in Cairo
Kamal Khalil (Center for Socialist Studies)
Ibrahim El Sahari (Center for Socialist Studies)
Islam Hanafi
Akram El Irani
Bahaa Saber
Hussein Mohamed Ali (Ghad party)
Khaled Ali
Saher Gad (journalist)
Seif Abdallah (Karama party)
Tarek Hassan
Karim Mohamed
Malek Mostafa
Mohamed El Agami
Mohamed Daridir
Mohamed Adel (injured)
Mohamed Abdel Rahman
Mohamed Fawzi Imam
Yasser Badran
Gamal Abdel Fattah
Sameh Mohamed Said
Sami Diab

The following activists were beaten up by the police in front of the press syndicate
Karem Mahmoud
Rasha Azab
Nada Qassas
Ali El Tayyeb

In today's papers, the foreign press picked up on the demonstration and arrests, while the American papers focused on the failed bombing attempts in the Sinai. The Middle East Times story says demonstrators chanted "Judges are our voice against dictatorship." The BBC report emphasized the heavy security presence outside the hearing. Marlyn Tadros, an Egyptian activist whose always been a great help to Amnesty International, mentions the beatings in her commentary as well as the arrest of an al-Jazeera editor in Cairo. Baheyya includes video on her blog.

AI Condemns Dahab bombing

Amnesty International condemns in the strongest terms the bomb attacks which, according to official reports, killed at least 18 people and injured more than a hundred others in the Red Sea resort of Dahab in the Sinai Peninsula on 24 April.

The explosions targeted a restaurant, a cafeteria and a supermarket. While no responsibility for the blasts has been claimed, the authorities continue to investigate any link between these blasts and attacks which took place in Taba in 2004 and Sharm el-Sheikh last year.

Amnesty International has invariably condemned attacks against civilians. Such attacks can never be justified under any circumstance. To the extent that they are widespread or systematic and are intended to further a policy by a government or an organization, they would be crimes against humanity.

The organization recognizes that the Egyptian government has a positive obligation to protect persons under its jurisdiction, including by preventing and punishing acts of terrorism. However, at the same time, the Egyptian authorities have equally a duty to promote and protect human rights at all times, including while combating terrorism. Concrete steps must be taken by the concerned authorities to ensure that suspects are not subjected to torture or other ill-treatment and are afforded all fair trial guarantees. Anyone convicted for such attacks should not be sentenced to death.

Amnesty International calls on the Egyptian authorities not to engage again in arbitrary arrests and detentions, as well as torture and other ill-treatment, as was the case after the bombings in Taba and Sharm el-Sheikh. The bombings in Dahab must not be used to justify any human rights violations by the Egyptian authorities.

Mubarak's Police Strike Again

Sixteen members of the Judges Club were arrested Monday during a sit-in protesting the government's muzzling of democratic forces. Those arrested included Judge Mahmoud Hamza and Kefaya member Prof. Yehia Qazzas. Supporters also say that activists with the Ghad party -- led by jailed politician Ayman Nour -- were arrested as well. News reports as well as e-mails from activists indicate that one senior judge was beaten before being arrested and was later released from custody. The other 15 remain in custody.

But the arrests are not slowing down the Judges. Word comes today that a big demonstration march will be led Thursday by the judges and other activists in conjunction with the expected official interrogation of the arrested judges that day.

Here's what other bloggers and the media are saying about the arrests.

The BBC reports on the event.

Middle East Times mentions the use of force by security officials.

The Muslim Brothers also cited the event.

Will Return April 24

Sorry, I will not be able to post until then

Below the Radar: Secret Flights and American Renditions

In May 2005, three stunned and traumatized Yemeni men emerged from a covert network of US-run prisons scattered across continents. They had been transported from site to site on secret flights and detained since 2003 without any contact with the outside world. Amnesty International went to Yemen to interview them and the men's gruelling stories shed a glimmer of light on the murky system of captures, transfers and secret detention that has been developed by the USA in the "war on terror".

Muhammad Bashmilah and Salah 'Ali Qaru were arrested in Jordan and transferred to US custody in October 2003. Two months later Muhammad al-Assad was arrested in Tanzania and handed to US officials. As far as their families were concerned, the men then "disappeared".

In fact, they were held in at least four secret US-run facilities, probably in three different countries. From the information subsequently provided by the men, it is likely they were held in Djibouti, Afghanistan and somewhere in Eastern Europe.

This story comes from a new report by Amnesty International documenting a tangled history of renditions, CIA cover companies and secret detention sites, and an equal trail of lies, deceptions and human rights abuses.

Egypt is in the thick of it. The CIA, using planes leased by front companies as well as legitimate aviation firms, has secretly transferred terror suspects into the custody of Egypt and other states where torture is known to accompany interrogation.

The former director of the CIA's counter-terrorism centre described what happened to one detainee who had been rendered to Egypt: "they promptly tore his fingernails out and he started telling things". In some cases, the conditions of detention, including prolonged isolation, have themselves amounted to cruel treatment. Yet no one can investigate these abuses, much less stop them, because the identity, condition and whereabouts of most rendition victims remain concealed.

Amnesty International is calling for an end to secret detentions, renditions, the use of transfers of individuals to places where they will be subjected to torture. Specifically for the American government, we call upon them to end secret detention sites, and to ensure anyone being held in U.S. custody around the world can get access to legal representation.

To read the full report, click here.

To read the Amnesty blog discussion on torture, click here.

To see an animated map of a CIA rendition flight path, click here.

Blog discussion of the report:

Craig Persal's Journal

Jurist Paper Chase

Associated Press story