1 2 Executive Summary Following CfJ’s six reports on human rights violations against detainees in Egyptian detention places for the first ten months of 2017 (January and February, March and April, May, June and July, August, September and October)1; Detention Watch project proceeds in this issue to provide an analytical overview of the human rights situation in Egyptian detention places – formal and informal – during the months of November and December 2017; while holding the authorities accountable of their obligations mandated by law (Egyptian constitution, Egyptian criminal law, and international human rights treaties Egypt has signed). The end objective of such periodic reports is to • inform national and international stakeholders of the ongoing conditions inside places of detention, • enable families of victims and detainees to factually establish claims of illegal and inhumane circumstances that are endured, • engage or demand engagement of authorities into a dialogue that can formulate coherent and consistent strategies and legislations that put an end to such violations, • support prevention of impunity of human rights violations in places of detention, • contribute to the transitional justice mechanisms that this country will or might employ at a later stage The methodology of this activity primarily entailed monitoring and observing violations being reported formally and informally on a day-to-day basis. After collecting the primary data, the project team employed the verification tool; a step that is regrettably overlooked by many other human rights organizations reporting in the same field due to difficulties establishing contact, time consumption and risks associated. Authenticating the data collected is a crucial step to safeguard the credibility of the data presented, and to be able to legally hold the violators accountable with proof. Accordingly, it was imperative for Detention Watch to communicate with the families of each detainee who suffered a violation and verify all the information needed. All the gathered data whether monitored or verified were finally compiled in this report with a contextual and statistical analysis; while shedding light on the challenges and limitations handled while working on the material. Key findings that Detention Watch reached can be summarized as follows: • 220 incidents of violations in detention places were monitored in November 2017. In December 2017, 208 incidents of violations were recorded. • Out of those 220 cases in November, an 88% rate of enforced disappearance cases was recorded (193), 5% rate of monitored medical negligence cases (12 cases), 2% rate of extrajudicial killings (5 cases), 2% rate of torture (5 cases), and 2% rate of medical negligence leading to death with 5 cases. • Beheira Governorate is responsible for 31 of the monitored enforced disappearance cases and is followed closely by Sharqia Governorate with 30 reported enforced disappearance incidents. 1our previous reports: https://www.cfjustice.org/portal/category/media/reports 3 • Out of 208 cases in December, 89% rate of monitored enforced disappearance (186 cases), 5% for medical negligence violations with 10 cases, 2% medical negligence that led to death with 10 cases, torture and extrajudicial killings have 3 reported cases each amounting to 2% and torture that led to death with 1 reported case at 1% of total reported violations. • Sharqia Governorate has the highest number of enforced disappearance with 46 reported arrests and disappearance (24.7%). Followed by Kafr El-Sheikh with 31 cases (16.6%) • CFJ monitored 23 deaths in detention places in Minya throughout 2017. 18 out of the 23 deaths took place in Minya Maximum Security Prison, and 10 out of those 18 deaths are due to medical negligence. • CFJ documented 48 incidents of violations targeted at 42 detainees across detention places in Egypt in November and December 2017. • Enforced disappearance is the number one violation with a 68.7% of all documented violations. Followed by, medical negligence at 16.6% and torture with a 10.4%, death due to medical negligence and arbitrary detention at 2% each. • Scorpion Prison has the highest number of violations these two months at 4 violations with 8.3% of all documented violations. • 35 out of 42 detainees were subjected to enforced disappearance (83% of all the verified detainees). • In 7 out of the 8 documented medical negligence cases, the detainees are not allowed their medication. • The age group facing the highest number of violations monitored is the youth group (16-30), followed by the middle age group (31-50), then finally the elderly (above 50) • In 86% of the cases (30 out of 35 verified enforced disappearance cases) that suffered enforced disappearance, they were arrested by State Security Officers. 4 I. 5 The data entry method depended on counting each violation as a single entry. A violation entry would be a violation that affected detainee X in Y detention place and Z time. If one of those variables changed – for example detainee X has been subjected to another violation in the same detention place – then this would be considered a new entry. However, in adding up the totals of the detainees; the count was per detainee and not per violation so as not to fall into any unintended data or analytical amplifications. 6 • Terminology Violations Violations in detention centers vary widely from psychological stress to extrajudicial killing of the detainee. In this month report we are specifically concerned with the following violations that we were able to monitor and verify: 1. Physical Torture 2. Medical Negligence 3. Extrajudicial Killings 4. Physical Torture that led to death 5. Medical negligence that led to death 6. Enforced Disappearance 2 7. Arbitrary Detention Prisons and Places of Detention After defining violations, the definition of places of detention that this report and project is concerned with, must be made clear with a distinction between formal and informal detention centers. 1. Formal Detention Places In Egypt, Article 1 of Prisons Act No. 396 of 1956 indicates four official types of prisons; Penitentiaries, general prisons, central prisons and special prisons. Other than prisons, there are places of detention defined by the Minister of the Interior in the Resolution No. 5 of 1969, which are linked to the police stations, centers or departments as well as the Criminal Investigation Administrations and their sections wherein prisoners, detainees and those in custody can be held. 2. Informal Detention Places All detention places that are not mentioned in the provisions of the law or the terms of ministerial decrees, where detainees are being hidden, such as the central security forces camps, state security apparatus headquarters and military prisons; are considered to be secret illegal places of detention. 2 For definitions and international interpretations for the rest of violations, kindly refer back to our January-February Detention Watch report 7 II. LEGAL FRAMEWORK An extensive discussion of the legal framework that Egyptian authorities abide/should abide to - according to the Egyptian constitution and international treaties that Egypt signed - is available in our first Detention Watch report. 3 The Legislative Committee of the House of Representatives approved on 17 December 2017 a draft law submitted by the government to amend the law on the prison regulation Article 52, to include the release of prisoners after spending half a period instead of three quarters. The cabinet had approved the bill at its meeting on November 154. The measure is to be applauded and hopefully will lead to less density in prisons. However, due to the vague limitation that restricts release on the detainee not being a risk to national security, those detainees who might otherwise qualify, may remain imprisoned due to arbitrary reasons in the hands of the Prison Warden. Further developments and amendments that took place within the legal framework of prison regulations are discussed in a timely manner in our previous reports.5 III. CASES DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS • Data Monitored Regular day-to-day monitoring by CfJ team (as explained in the methodology) was able to record 220 incidents of violations in detention places during the month of November 2017. While in the month of December 2017, we recorded a total of 208 incidents of violations. November 2017: Violation Number of reported incidents Enforced Disappearance 193 Medical Negligence 12 Torture 5 Death Due to Medical Negligence 5 Extra-judicial Killing 5 Total 220 Enforced disappearance is this month number one violation taking place inside detention centers in Egypt as is the case with all the previous months in 2017. A total of 193 cases of detainees who were subjected to enforced disappearance was monitored (88% of monitored violations in November 2017). Medical negligence is the second most frequent violation with 12 incidents reported (5% of monitored violations). Then comes extra judicial killing 3 Jan Feb report: https://goo.gl/Wfj76B 4 https://goo.gl/wdViXr 5 our previous reports: https://www.cfjustice.org/portal/category/media/reports 8 with 5 reported cases (2% of violations), torture with 5 cases (2% of violations) and medical negligence that led to death with 5 reported cases (2% of violations). Enforced Disappearance: Governorate Number of Detainees Assuit 4 Alexandria 12 Beheira 31 Giza 3 Dakahlia 1 Suez 1 Sharqia 30 Gharbia 11 Fayoum 1 Cairo 22 Qalyubia 6 Menoufia 21 Minya 1 Beni Suef 4 Port Said 6 Damietta 1 North Sinai 12 Qena 1 Kafr El-Sheikh 17 Unknown Governorate 8 Grand Total 193 Governorate Number of Appearances Assuit 1 Alexandria 3 Beheira 13 Suez 1 Sharqia 8 Gharbia 1 9 Fayoum 1 Cairo 5 Qalyubia 3 Menoufia 16 Beni Suef 1 Port Said 3 North Sinai 1 Qena 1 Kafr El-Sheikh 1 Unknown Governorate 3 Grand Total 62 There are 193 enforced disappearance cases in November 2017 and only 62 out of them appeared so far (32.1% of the enforced disappearance cases appeared).