International lawyers call on Ashton to end sham trials in Egypt

Below is the text of that letter:

We write to you as the lawyers on behalf of the Freedom and Justice Party and Muslim Brotherhood (FJP). We last wrote to you on 5 and 7 February 2014 just before the European Union Foreign Affairs Council meeting on 10 February 2014 which addressed developments in Egypt. We submitted written representations to you on behalf the FJP.

Since then the situation in Egypt has deteriorated even further with, in particular, the sentencing to death on 24 March 2014 of 529 persons, including members and supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, by the Court in Minya. This Court will today hear another case involving similar charges against 683 persons including the Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide, Mohamed Badie, and the FJP chairman, Saad El-Katany.

These persons are among the over 20,000 Egyptians who are currently detained throughout Egypt, including President Morsi. They have been detained by the current military regime for exercising their rights to free expression, association and assembly.

We welcome your statement of 24 March 2014 condemning these actions by the military regime. We urge you to take the strongest steps to ensure that these sham trials and the summary executions that have been ordered to follow imminently are halted. The military regime is in effect conducting a campaign of persecution against its opponents by ruthlessly targeting members and supporters of the FJP, and all others who the regime perceives as being critical of its undemocratic rule, through judicial processes which are (and have been widely characterised as being) fundamentally unfair and in violation of international standards. It is imperative, now more than ever, that this regime is denounced, isolated and prevented from seeking to impose its control over Egypt. The shocking events in the court in Minya will continue unabated unless decisive action is taken genuinely to restore constitutional order and democracy in Egypt.

It is of the utmost concern that the court has completely failed in its duty to assess and adjudicate on the individual guilt of each defendant before imposing the death penalty against the entire group that it has found guilty. A very large group of persons have been convicted and condemned to death without being tried and found guilty on the basis of individual criminal responsibility. This amounts to a collective punishment which is clearly forbidden under international law. It constitutes a violation of the right to liberty and security of the person and the right to a fair trial and due process before the law. The UN Human Rights Committee has stated that State parties to the ICCPR (to which Egypt is a State party) may in no circumstances invoke a state of emergency to impose collective punishments in violation of international law.

As you highlight in your statement, capital punishment is cruel and inhuman and is opposed by the EU. The imposition of the death penalty by the Egyptian court also disregards the moratorium on the execution of the death penalty adopted by resolution of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights on 24 November 2008. The ‘trial’ proceedings have in any event been conducted in clear violation of the Commission’s statement that States Parties to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (of which Egypt is a State Party) must guarantee all of the fair trial rights of all persons accused of crimes for which capital punishment is applicable as provided for in the African Charter and other regional and international norms and treaties.

The unacceptable and unlawful actions of its courts show that the present military regime is only intent on crushing all opposition in Egypt through whatever means. It has no intention of restoring constitutional democracy and guaranteeing respect for human rights in Egypt, and should therefore not be supported in any way.

It is significant that the military regime has taken no steps to investigate and prosecute any of the mass killings of Egyptian civilians by the military regime in the several protests that have followed the unlawful military coup in July 2013. This blatant omission further highlights that the present military regime cannot and should not be permitted to attempt to oversee any ‘transition towards democracy’ in Egypt, as expressed in your statement.

As explained in our representations to you in February, we have filed a Complaint on behalf of the FJP with the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague requesting that she urgently initiate an investigation into the international crimes that have been committed and are still being perpetrated by the military regime in Egypt. She has as yet not opened any preliminary examination into the Egypt Situation. We are meeting with her this week to seek to convince her of the need to do so without delay. We asked you in February, and we urge you again in light of these recent events, to support the initiative for the ICC to investigate the commission of serious crimes being perpetrated on a mass scale against ordinary civilians in Egypt. The evidence we have submitted to the ICC shows that this campaign against the civilian population is being orchestrated and controlled at the highest levels of the military regime. We have therefore asked the Prosecutor to investigate the criminal responsibility of several named suspects who are currently leading the military regime.

Given that the military regime has taken no steps at all to investigate these crimes and instead focuses only on sentencing its opponents to death, the ICC is obliged to act under the principle of complementarity. Both the public condemnation of the criminal activities of the military regime and the opening of an international investigation will contribute to deterring further human rights’ violations, including those we are presently witnessing in the courts in Egypt. The ICC has a unique opportunity to seek to prevent further incidents of violence and repression in Egypt and to contribute to the restoration of peace and democracy.

We appeal to you to take all necessary steps against the military regime to halt sham trials and the use of capital punishment, to put an immediate end to all violence against the civilian population, to lift all banning orders and restrictions on political and civil activities, to release all detainees, and to bring all those responsible for the commission of international crimes to justice. There can be no legitimate progress in Egypt towards democracy and the rule of law, which enjoys the support of the whole of the Egyptian population, while the military regime continues to act as it does in violation of international standards, and until all of these fundamental conditions are fulfilled.

We thank you for receiving our further representations.

Yours sincerely

Irvine Thanvi Natas Solicitors

On behalf of :

• Lord Ken Macdonald QC
• Professor John Dugard SC
• Michael Mansfield QC
• Stephen Kamlish QC
• Rodney Dixon
• Tayab Ali