CAT/C/CR/31/4
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(b)
The permission granted to many non-governmental organizations to operate freely
in the country;
(c)
The provisions of enacted laws protecting human rights, for example, article 149
of the Constitution; article 6 of the Code of Criminal Procedure No. 3 of 1994; article 21 of the
Code of Military Crimes and Penalties, 1998; article 9 of the Police Corps Act No. 15/2000;
article 35 of the Penal Code; and the ratification by Act No. 36 of 1983 of the Arab Convention
on Judicial Cooperation;
(d)
The stated intention of the State party to ratify the Rome Statute of the
International Criminal Court and steps taken at the national level in this respect;
(e)
The ratification of the major human rights instruments and the incorporation of
the provisions of these international treaties into the domestic legal order;
(f)
The human rights education and training activities and the State party’s openness
to international cooperation, as reflected in the agreement concluded with the Office of the
High Commissioner for Human Rights;
(g)
The assurances received from the delegation that it intends to establish special
institutions (“half-way houses”) to receive vulnerable women leaving prison;
(h)
The access accorded to the International Committee of the Red Cross to persons
held by the Political Security Department.
C.
Factors and difficulties impeding the implementation of the Convention
5.
The Committee, while aware of the difficulties that the State party faces in its prolonged
fight against terrorism, recalls that no exceptional circumstances whatsoever can be invoked as a
justification for torture. It stresses in particular that the reactions of the State party to such
threats must be compatible with article 2, paragraph 2, of the Convention and within the limits of
Security Council resolution 1373 (2001).
D. Subjects of concern
6.
The Committee expresses concern about the following:
(a)
The lack of a comprehensive definition of torture in the domestic law as set out in
article 1 of the Convention;
(b)
The nature of some criminal sanctions, in particular flogging and amputation of
limbs, which may be in breach of the Convention;
(c)
Reports of the frequent practice of incommunicado detention by Political Security
Department officials, including occurrences of mass arrests and detention for prolonged periods
without judicial process;
(d)
The failure in practice to enable detained persons to obtain access to a lawyer, a
doctor of their choice or relatives from the outset of their detention;