The Corruption and Oppression Regime Shows its Ugly Face

The Egyptian Movement for Change

 (Kefaya)

No to Another Term…No to Handing Down Power
Illegitimate

The Corruption and Oppression Regime Shows its Ugly Face
The ruling regime is no longer capable of hiding the features of its ugliness, corruption and animosity towards democracy. It escalated the use of oppression and detention at its weakest moment, giving free reign to its security apparatus to drag and break the bones of those defending the nation's demands of justice and freedom. The security apparatus continued its assault against the Judiciary and undermined its independence and dignity, ending the series of escalation actions with extending the enforcement of the state of using the parliament it falsely created through elections in which the world witnessed interference, thugs, blatant violence which reached the extent of murdering citizens to forge the will of nation also using the Emergency Law imposed by the state of emergency which had been declared and continued to be enforced since October 1981. The state of emergency allows the violation of constitutional and legal guarantees which the Constitution prescribes for individuals. It is a situation where the state exceeds the legitimacy based on the rule of law over both rulers and governed. The state of emergency only aims to protect rights and freedoms against illegitimate aggression but in reality it has come to destroy the principle of the rule of law, the separation of powers and the concept of the democratic state.

The Egyptian Movement for Change "Kefaya", as one of the vanguards of the forces of democratic change in Egypt presents to Egypt and all the forces of democracy worldwide this documented report about the recent crimes committed by the Mubarak regime as part of the growing and already fat file full of crimes awaiting the moment of accountability and a imminent trial where the perpetrators will definitely pay for their crimes.

Egypt's honest judges have been going through a vicious struggle for over a year using all their patience reserves and all the tools of peaceful action to obtain Egypt's right to an independent Judiciary. This struggle has been taking place through the Judges' Club, the judges' legitimate elected institution, the decision of the general assembly of which express the opinion of thousands of judges who have gathered around the draft law to guarantee the independence of the Judiciary from the Executive Authority and the judges' right to complete supervision of general elections in a way that guarantees the fairness and neutrality of the elections and that they express the will of the voters.

 A committee of judges was formed to investigate rigging incidents so that judges would not be held responsible for manipulations and the use of thugs that reached the point of assaulting the judges who tried to stand in the face of the rigging. The regime, in an attempt to abort the work of the mentioned judges' committee, referred the committee's most prominent members Counselor Mahmoud Makki and Counselor Hisham al-Bastawissi, deputies to the head of the Court of Cassation, to a Qualifying Committee in preparation to dismiss them in a clear attempt to terrorize the independence of the Judiciary movement which has come to represent a glimmer of hope for Egyptians in the face of oppression.

The political regime's pressures represented in referring prominent judges to the Qualifying Committee led to a meeting of the Judges' Club's board of directors and general assembly and a call for an open sit-in at the Judges' Club in solidarity with the judges referred to the Qualifying Committee, a session of which was scheduled on 27 April 2006. The government also leaked information that there was another list of judges who will be subject to severe punishment and maltreatment.

The solid position of Egypt's honorable judges gained the sympathy and support of all the powers and political movements, as well as all sectors of the Egyptian public and civil society. This sympathy can be monitored in the fact that many delegations visited the Judges' Club to declare solidarity and support of the judges' position, in addition to the tens of statements of solidarity that were issued and statements of objection to the political regime's position towards the judges.

The movement in support and peaceful solidarity with the independence of the Judiciary movement development to a declaration on part of many political powers and movements, as well as civil society organizations to organize a symbolic solidarity open sit-in on the pavement opposite the Judges' Club to demonstrate to the judges, to all Egyptians, and even to the world that the judges are not alone in the freedom battle and that their battle towards the independence of the Judiciary and the defense of its members has become the battle of the Egyptian people. The Egyptian Movement for Change (Kefaya) called upon all democratic powers to be in solidarity with the judges and support them. Movements including Youth for Change, Journalists for Change, Writers and Artists for Change, The 9 March Movement for the Independence of Universities responded to Kefaya's call. Activists from the Revolutionary Socialists Movement, Karama (Dignity) Party (under establishment), and Al-Ghad Party joined the sit-in. The Kefaya movement's call included calling for organizing a political conference that gathers different groups opposite the Judges' Club on the night of referring the judges' to the committee which is supposed to decide whether they qualify to work as judges. Kefaya also called for gathering in front of the Court on the morning of 27 April where the session was to be held.

 The solidarity sit-in continued opposite the Judges' Club for a few days. At 2 am on 22 April the sit-in location was attacked using Karate teams which carried batons and knives. These teams assaulted the sit-in and stole the tents, banners, as well as the personal belongings of the sit-in members in an attempt to disperse the sit-in. The Egyptian flag was torn in front of everyone. However, the members of the solidarity sit-in bore the brutal security attack and the security forces failed in dispersing them.

The second attempt to disperse the sit-in took place at 2 am on Monday, 24 April, 2006 when the security forces launched an attack using hundreds of central security soldiers, karate and anti-terrorism teams led by state security officers. The members of the sit-in were brutally beaten and dragged by their feet. The battle ended with dispersing the sit-in and detaining and assaulting all participants. Twelve of the participants in the sit-in were referred to the Kasr al-Nil prosecution where report 5476 of 2006, Kasr al-Nil misdemeanors was filed against them. Prosecution ordered their detention for 15 days based on State Security Prosecution's authority derived from Article 10 of the Emergency Law. Those referred to prosecution in this incident are: Nael Abdel-Hamid, Emad Farid Abdel-Latif, Ahmed Fat'hy, Ahmed Yasser al-Doroubi, Mohamed al-Sharkawi, Ahmed Salah, Mohamed Makki, Ahmed Maher, Bassem Hussein, Hamada Ragab Faisal, Adel Fawzi Tawfik and Yasser Ismail Zaki.

While the participants in thesit-in were subject to detention and dragging on the street Counselor (judge) Mahmoud Hamza, head of one of the Appeals courts was standing at the Judges' Club door on his way into the Club. The brutality of the assault led him to try and film it using his mobile phone to use the photos as documented evidence to be submitted in a complaint to the prosecutor general about the security apparatus' aggression. However, state security officers, when they noticed what he was trying to do, viciously attacked and arrested Counselor Mahmoud Hamza and seized his mobile phone and his personal weapon although he told them he was a judge. The attack against him and his younger brother who works as a prosecutor continued. He was released only when his health condition deteriorated due to the brutality of the attack and he is now under treatment at the Heliopolis hospital.

The attack and on part of the state security apparatus and the arrest of those who struggle for democracy did not terrorize the participants in the sit-in. Other symbolic groups of young men and women started arriving to join the sit-in in solidarity with the independence of the Judiciary movement and to declare their peaceful objection to the detention of their colleagues and the brutal attack against Judge Mahmoud Hamza.

However, the security apparatus did not stop at the previous attacks. It attacked the new participants in the sit-in on the night of 26 April using the same methods of dragging on the ground by the feet, beating and breaking bones. The sit-in was again dispersed and Kamal Khalil, Saad Abdallah Hamdy, Akram Ali Helmi, Hussein Mohamed Ali, Mohamed Fawzi Imam, Malek Mustafa Mohamed, Mohamed Ahmed Dardiri, Bahaa Saber Hemeida, Saher Ibrahim Gad, Yasser Essayed Badran, Mohamed Abdel-Rahman Kamel, Sameh Mohamed Said, Gamal Abdel-Fattah, Ibrahim al-Sahhari, Mohamed Adel Fahmy and Sami Mohamed Diab were detained and referred to prosecution on account of case 415 of 2006, Supreme State Security. Prosecution ordered they be kept in custody for 15 days on account of the investigation.

The State Security Investigations apparatus did not stop at this. It used large numbers of central security soldiers to seal the area surrounding the Judges' Club, the Journalists' Syndicate and the Bar Association to prevent the intended solidarity conference.
The siege around the Judges' Club continued until the morning of 27 April, the scheduled date for the trial of counselors Mahmoud Makki and Hisham al-Bastawissi before the Qualifying Committee. The area of downtown Cairo was closed off using about 15,000 armed soldiers to terrorize the movement in solidarity with the judges on the one hand, and to terrorize the judges themselves on the other. An extraordinary general assembly meeting was to be held at the Judges' Club following the trial session.

The mentioned forces (central security soldiers) committed arbitrary violence, beating and dragging on the ground by the feet. Tens of citizens were detained and kidnapped from the street, including Ibrahim Abdel-Aziz Abdel-Dayem, Ali Essayed Ali Mohamed, Ali Fat'hy Ali, Fat'hy Abdel-Ra'ouf, Hamdi Abul-Mota'ati Kenawi, Mohamed Abdel-Latif, Emad Fahim Abdel-Ghani, Wael Mohamed Khalil, Ibrahim Essayed Attiya, Ashraf Ibrahim Mohamed, Karim Mohamed and Hani Lotfi Essawy. These were added to the list of those detained on account of case 415, Supreme State Security.

Other individuals -the legal situation of whom was not clarified- were detained, including Hamada Ragab Ahmed, Sayed Hassan Abdel-Aziz, Ibrahim Mohamed Bahgat, Ashraf Mohamed Abdel-Aziz, Fayez Hassan Alloum, Walid Gamal Arab. Thus the number of detainees reaches 48, all detained at the al-Mahkoum prison in the Tora area. They all face the following charges:

1. Gathering with the aim of influencing the Authority while the latter performs its work.
2. Insulting the president and official state authorities.
3. Disseminating disruptive materials and rumors that may harm public security and public interest
4. Intentionally hinder public transport
5. Use foul language against police officers while the latter were performing their public duties
6. Possessing bulletins prepared for distribution and printing means (spray)
7. Committing riot acts and destroying some public property
8. Occupying the road without permission from the relevant authorities
9. Inciting to the organization of demonstrations, distributing bulletins, committing rioting acts, destroying public and private property and hindering traffic
Despite all this, the people's solidarity continues with the judges towards achieving the independence of the Judiciary and having a state where justice and freedom prevail. The solidarity also continues in the face of acts of state terrorism and oppression.
The circle of participants in this resistance, those demanding democratic change in Egypt keeps growing.
The Egyptian people's struggle will not stop until the state of justice and freedom is established, a state for all Egyptians. The struggle continues until the era of oppression and corruption ends.

Cairo on 4 May 2006