Case History: Negad El Borai
On 5 June 2016, Negad El Borai was summoned for a fifth interrogation session. At the end of the session, the investigative judge decided to set another date so that Negad El Borai could present his defense documents. The investigation is based on an anti-torture bill drafted by the human rights defender and submitted to the President. Negad El Borai faces several charges including “establishing an unlicensed entity, receiving illegal funds, and deliberately spreading false information with the purpose of harming public order or public interest.”
Negad El Borai is a well-known figure in Egypt's human rights movement. He is a lawyer and the head of the legal unit at United Group for Law. He is also a columnist for Al Shorouk newspaper and has advocated for freedom of expression, assembly and association. In January 2014, Negad El Borai resigned from Egypt’s National Council for Human Rights (NCHR), protesting its politicised and inconsistent position on human rights abuses in Egypt. The human rights defender was the founder and president of Group for Democratic Development and the Secretary General of the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights.
Between April and May 2016, scores of arbitrary arrests, abusive detentions, unlawful house raids, enforced disappearances, violence and unfair trials targeting civil society and human rights defenders have taken place in Egypt. With over 300 arrests in Cairo, Alexandria and other governorates, repression and human rights violations committed by the authorities have reached an unprecedented level. They were triggered by a recent call made by several civil society actors to protest on 25 April 2016 against human rights abuses and crimes committed by the security forces, the ruling regime's policies and the recent government decision to cede the sovereignty of two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia. As a result, on 14 May 2016, Egyptian courts sentenced, in a single day, 152 pro-democracy activists to up to five years imprisonment.
Read also: Escalating judicial harassment against human rights defenders
Human rights defenders, including Negad El Borai, Mohamed Nagui, Sanaa Seif, Malek Adly and Haytham Mohamadeen have been direct targets of the security forces and were accused in separate cases of, inter alia, “insulting a public official, deliberately spreading false information with the purpose of harming public order or public interest, calling for protests to overthrow the regime and participation in an illegal demonstration”.
On 15 May 2016, Negad El Borai was summoned by an investigative judge for a fifth interrogation session, scheduled for 17 May 2016. The hearing was eventually postponed. The investigation is based on an anti-torture bill drafted by the human rights defender and submitted to the President. Negad El Borai faces several charges including “establishing an unlicensed entity, receiving illegal funds, and deliberately spreading false information with the purpose of harming public order or public interest.”
Front Line Defenders reiterates its deep concern about the Egyptian government's crackdown on human rights defenders and the criminalisation of civil society, and calls for an immediate end to the persecution of human rights defenders.
On 3 March 2016, human rights lawyer Mr Negad El Borai presented himself at North Giza Court having been summoned for interrogation on charges of 'receiving illegal foreign funding', 'establishing and running an illegal group', 'inciting disobedience of state authorities', 'disturbing public order' and 'spreading false news'. He was interrogated for over three hours before an investigative judge. At the end of the interrogation, the judge ordered his release on bail pending investigation.
The human rights defender was summoned for questioning three times in May and June 2015, in connection with a workshop convened on 11 March 2015 by the United Group for Law to discuss with other experts its draft-law for the prevention of torture. The draft law aims to bring Egyptian domestic law in line with the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
A committee of lawyers, academics and judges, including judges Hisham Raouf, president of the Cairo Court of Appeal, and Assem Abdel-Gabbar, vice-president of the Court of Cassation, worked to draft the anti-torture law along with Negad El Borai. The Supreme Judicial Council reportedly filed a complaint against the two judges prior to Negad El Borai's interrogation in May 2015, accusing them of cooperating with Negad El Borai to draft the law.
On 21 May 2015, an investigative judge in North Giza Court interrogated human rights defender Negad El Borai, in relation to his work drafting a new anti-torture law.
The interrogation followed a complaint from the Supreme Judicial Council against judges Hisham Raouf and Assem Abdel-Gabbar, accusing the judges of cooperating with El Borai to draft the law. In line with WEgypt's ongoing crackdown on civil society groups and criminalization of legitimate human rights advocates, the complaint also accused El Borai of chairing 'an illegal organisation,' in reference to his leadership at United Group for Law.
The interrogation of Negad El Borai was in connection with a workshop convened on 11 March 2015 by United Group to discuss its draft law for the prevention of torture with other experts. The draft law aims to bring Egypt's domestic law in line with the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
The drafting of an anti-torture legislation in Egypt is more than move to nominal bring Egyptian laws in line with international standards - it is a critical step towards rectifying a persistent and often fatal issue in the country's criminal justice system. Egyptian prisons have become world renowned for recurring abuses of prisoner rights, includes widespread and credible reports of torture. In July 2014, Al Jazeera reported that cases of torture inside Egyptian prisons have “reportedly increased since a security crackdown began on supporters of former President Mohamed Morsi and other dissidents.” According to a 2015 report, The El-Nadeem Centre for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence, the organization documented “hundreds” of torture cases inside prisons in April 2015 alone.
A committee of lawyers, academics and judges, including judges Hisham Raouf, president of the Cairo Court of Appeal, and Assem Abdel-Gabbar, vice president of the Court of Cassation, worked to draft the anti-torture law along with El Bodai. The Supreme Judicial Council reportedly filed a complaint against the two judges prior to Negad El Borai's interrogation. The investigative judge summoned Negad El Borai for another interrogation session on 26 May 2015.
