CAT/C/68/D/782/2016
kept in detention without access to a lawyer, has sent letters to several authorities of the
requested State (Morocco), asking not to be extradited and setting out his fears and the
serious risks he faced of being subjected to torture and other violations of his fundamental
rights if he were to be extradited to Egypt.
2.7
Between August and October 2016, the complainant sent eight letters, including a
letter informing the Crown Prosecutor in Casablanca that he had not been notified of the
judgment of the Court of Cassation and requesting a copy of the extradition decision, on 4
August 2016; a letter to the government spokesperson on 8 September 2016; a letter to the
prosecutor of the Court of Cassation on 8 September 2016; a complaint to the Ministry of
Justice and Freedoms on 8 September 2016; a letter to the king on 26 September 2016; a
letter to the Prime Minister on 4 October 2016; and a letter to the Director for Criminal
Affairs and Pardons on 20 October 2016. Despite his requests, he never received a copy of
the judgment of the Court of Cassation on his extradition, or any response to his requests or
to the fears he had expressed regarding the risk of being subjected to acts of torture if he
were to be extradited to Egypt.
The complaint
3.1
The complainant claims that the State party would be violating article 3 of the
Convention if it extradited him to Egypt.
3.2
The complainant states that he faces a substantial risk of being subjected to torture
or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment in Egypt owing to his criticism of the regime as a
journalist. Egypt still does not have legislation criminalizing torture pursuant to the
Convention.
3.3
He alleges that human rights have been systematically violated in Egypt, including
through the widespread practice of arbitrary detention and violations of fair trial guarantees,
in particular for journalists. Journalists, activists and human rights defenders are
systematically tortured, in retaliation for their activities and to force them to sign selfincriminating confessions, which are then used against them in unfair trials.
3.4
The complainant adds that the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary
Disappearances, in its 2016 annual report, identified 226 outstanding cases of enforced or
involuntary disappearance in Egypt, and that this practice is systematic, especially in
relation to journalists, activists and political opponents. 6 Since 2013, the number of persons
arrested by the security services and cases of enforced disappearance in Egypt had risen
steadily and significantly, as confirmed by several reports on the human rights situation. 7
According to these reports, incommunicado detention is in itself a form of torture and cruel
and inhuman treatment, and also facilitates the practice of torture because the victim
remains outside the protection of the law.
3.5
The special procedures mandate holders of the Human Rights Council and the
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights have on many occasions expressed
their concern at the reprisals carried out by the Egyptian authorities and in particular the
acts of torture to which journalists have been subjected owing to their critical stance
regarding the authorities. Experts have reiterated that this repression has intensified in
Egypt over the past two years. In particular, they have referred to the fact that, on 1 May
2016, the security forces of the requesting State stormed the headquarters of the Egyptian
journalists’ union, of which the complainant is an active member. Many cases of reprisals
against journalists for writing articles critical of the Egyptian Government’s policies are
also corroborated by reports of the Committee to Protect Journalists, according to which
Egypt is one of the world’s worst jailers of journalists.8
3.6
The complainant claims that he published articles on the subject of corruption in
Egypt in various sectors, which implicated politicians and members of the current
Government. The complainant adds that the legal proceedings brought against him by the
Egyptian authorities in 2013 were a form of retaliation, particularly since, in parallel with
6
7
8
GE.19-22535
A/HRC/33/51, annex II.
Amnesty International, “Egypt. Hundreds disappeared and tortured amid wave of brutal repression”,
13 July 2016.
Committee to Protect Journalists, “2015 prison census: 199 journalists jailed worldwide”.
3