By Meredith Lee-Clark
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East
CAIRO, Egypt – In the wake of the first session in state security court, Human Rights Watch called on the Egyptian government to move the trial of twenty-five suspected terrorists to criminal court. The twenty-two Egyptians and two Palestinians of the so-called “Zeitoun” cell were arrested and charged in connection with an armed robbery and murder in Cairo in May 2008 and a planned attack on the Suez Canal. One additional defendant is abroad and is being tried in abstentia.
Human Rights Watch and other rights organizations have criticized the Egyptian government’s handling of the twenty-four defendants since their arrest in July 2009. The members of the Zeitoun cell are accused of setting up a terrorist cell targeting Coptic Christians and foreigners in Egypt, with possible connections to Al Qaeda. The twenty-four men were held without charge for several weeks without being charged, as State Security Investigations (SSI) officers were granted consecutive fifteen-day detention orders under Egypt’s emergency law. Defense lawyers have filed multiple applications to visit with their clients in private; the defense attorneys reiterated their requests at the first session of the trial on February 14.
Since the case was moved to the State Security Court on July 22, 2009, some of the defendants’ lawyers were not allowed at the prosecution’s interrogations. Additionally, during the first session, several defendants told the state security forces that they had been tortured during their interrogations, obtaining several confessions by torture.
The case is drawing heavy media attention in Egypt and throughout the Middle East. The trial opened under tight security, as security officers prevented late-arriving journalists and family members from entering the courtroom. Defendants’ family members who were in the courtroom were prevented from talking with the defendants, even though many have seen their relatives only once or twice in nearly two years.
After the initial court session on February 14, the judge adjourned the trial until March 20 to allow defense attorneys an opportunity to examine police documents. Sarah Leah Whitson, Human Rights Watch’s Middle East director, called on the Egyptian judiciary to ensure that the defendants are granted a fair trial.
“The government’s reliance on a state security court that lacks fair trial protections means that the verdict will be unsound,” said Whitson. “If the prosecution feels it has sufficient evidence, if should bring this case before a regular Egyptian criminal court.”
For more information, please see:
Gulf News – Egypt Accuses Terror Suspects of Links with Al Qaida – 16 February 2010
Al-Masry Al-Youm – “Zeitoun” Cell Suspects Claim Police Torture – 14 February 2010
Human Rights Watch – Egypt: Transfer Zeitoun Trial to Criminal Court – 14 February 2010
TMCnet.com – Zeitoun Terrorism Case Begins Amid Heavy Security Presence – 14 February 2010
