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The Annual Report of 2015
The Egyptian coordination
of Rights and Freedoms
Cairo 2016
Human rights in Egypt:
What Could Possibly Be Worse?
The Egyptian Coordination For Rights and Freedoms
Cairo 2016

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‫فهرسة‬ ‫بطاقة‬
‫املرصية‬ ‫الكتب‬ ‫لدار‬ ‫العامة‬ ‫الهيئة‬ ‫إعداد‬ ‫النرش‬ ‫أثناء‬ ‫فهرسة‬
‫الفـنيـة‬ ‫الـشـئــون‬ ‫إدارة‬
‫عام‬ ‫حصاد‬ :‫العنوان‬
‫؟‬ ‫أين‬ ‫إىل‬ ‫مرص‬ ‫يف‬ ‫اإلنسان‬ ‫حقـوق‬
2015 ‫السـنــــــوي‬ ‫الــتـقـــريــــر‬
‫والحريات‬ ‫للحقوق‬ ‫املرصية‬ ‫التنسيقية‬ :‫القاهرة‬ - 1‫ط‬
‫املواطــن‬ ‫حقوق‬ ‫سلسلة‬ ‫سم‬ 24 ،‫ص‬ 212
)‫(املؤلف‬ ‫والحـريـات‬ ‫للحقـــوق‬ ‫املرصيـة‬ ‫التنسيـقية‬
The Egyptian coordination
of Rights and Freedoms
Prepared by:
The Egyptian Coordination of Rights and Freedoms
Reporting Unit
Series of citizen’s rights
Publisher: The Egyptian Coordination For Rights
and Freedoms
E-mail: Egypt.ecrf@gmail.com
Website: www.Ecrfeg.org
Proofreader: Dr. Abdul Rahman Badr Eldin
Cover design and art direction: Khadija Zakaria
Deposit No: 2934 for the year 2016
The Annual Report of 2015
Human Rights in Egypt: What Could Possibly Be Worse?

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Human rights in Egypt… Where to?
Contributors:
The Reporting Unit of the Egyptian Coordination of Rights and Freedoms
Researchers:
Doaa Hussein human rights researcher
Asmaa Mahmoud human rights researcher
Amr Ahmed lawyer and a human rights researcher
Mohammed Abu Huraira lawyer and a human rights researcher
Alaa Monsef human rights lawyer and researcher
Director of the Unit: Doha Ezzedine
Legal Review: Mohammed Elsayed Lawyer and legal scholar
Art Direction: Khadija Zakaria
General Manager
Ezzat Ghoniem

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Index
Introduction
About the Coordination
Methodology
Executive Summary
PartI: violations of civil and political rights
Chapter One: The Violations
1. Extrajudicial Killings
2. Enforced Disappearances
3. Torture
4. Arbitrary and Preventive Detention
5. Prisons
6. Collective Punishment, Siege, and the Breaking into Towns
and Villages
7. Military Trials
8. Death Sentences
Chapter Two: The Most Vulnerable Groups
1. Women
2. Children
3. The Disabled
4. Migrants and Refugees
Chapter Three: Professionals
1. Journalists and Media Workers
2. Lawyers and Human Rights Activists
3. Academic Staff
Chapter Four: Violations against Students
Chapter Five: Legislation in the Absence of Parliament
Part II: Violations of Economic and Social Rights
1. Suicide
2. Dismissal from Work
Part III: Recommendations
5
6
8
11
17
18
23
40
50
58
87
95
101
111
112
131
139
146
151
152
166
173
196
203
212
213
217
227

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The essential criterion for the success of all private and government foundations and
organizations depends on the extent the law and the regulations concerning everyone
are applied to all, without exception or discrimination. This criterion measures how
the state respects the rights of its citizens. The application of law without exception or
discrimination, in full respect of international human rights standards, distinguish-
es between the developed countries and the underdeveloped countries. Our civilized
world is measured by the commitment to upholding the rights of citizens.
Yet here in Egypt, there are many unknown facts, and many victims whose cases have
gone undocumented. However, the obvious fact which we would like to highlight is that
there are violations, and these human rights abuses have become too numerous to be
reviewed in a report in their entirety. Though this report can reflect statistics, it cannot
describe the human pain that one suffers due to the violation of his rights and dignity.
Those observing the situation of human rights in Egypt over the past two years can see
that conditions have deteriorated. The negligence of human rights and dignity in Egypt
is not derived from the collective mind of Egypt, but it is particularly derived from
the negligence of the authorities themselves. The officials have forgotten that they are
responsible for all Egyptians without any discrimination. The good people of Egypt,
however, still reject affronts to humanity and the violation of their rights.
Juridical terms such as “enforced disappearance,” “physical liquidation,” “extra-judicial
killings,” and “medical negligence in prison” were not common in the general frame-
work in Egypt and only jurists and academics knew about them. Now these terms have
become common, proving that these crimes have reached the common people who
are not associated with politics, and as a result of their perpetration hundreds of times
until these acts affect the hearts of everyone. The security agencies are attempting to
escape from accountability, and thus they dismiss "enforced disappearances" as merely
cases of "missing" persons, and "extrajudicial killings" as their effort to "fight terrorism."
There are also new terms that have entered into public discourse which were previously
unheard of, even among academics. For instance, "hostage-taking" describes persons
detained by the security agencies in order to force their relatives to surrender.
What is worse is the negative role of the public prosecution. Public prosecutors more
often reject to apply the law, and to document and prevent instances of torture, murder
and forced disappearance. Additionally, public prosecutors have refused to investigate
the records and reports submitted by victims’ families.
In such a seemingly intransigent environment, we announced the launch of the Egyp-
tian Coordination for Rights and Freedoms in the beginning of August, 2014 to be a
neutral human rights organization, trying our best to stop the egregious negligence of
human rights in Egypt, and to express the pain of those victims who do not otherwise
have a voice to cry out against the governors. It is our hope to put an end to these con-
tinued egregious violations against Egyptians.
The Egyptian Coordination has continued in this role since its founding, and remains
to this day. We have discovered cases of enforced disappearances, documented cases
of extrajudicial killings, and issued detailed reports about cases of torture and abuse.
We will continue, God willing, until the ruling power is committed to upholding the
rights of citizens, and until they review their policies which violate human rights.
Introduction

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Establishment:
‫ا‬EThe Egyptian Coordination of Rights and Freedoms is an Egyptian human rights orga-
nization based in Cairo, founded in August of 2014. We are an independent, neutral,
non-profit, non-governmental organization aiming to document violations that occur
in Egypt. We publish systematically objective reports, studies and research in order: to
guarantee the rights of victims; to document historical events for the historical record;
and to pressure to stop violations and abuse of Egyptian citizens and all residents
within the lands of Egypt in accordance with the Constitution and the law.
It should be noted that the reports issued by the Coordination serve as references for
many international and local human rights organizations, governmental and non-gov-
ernmental organizations, as well as for a broad range of international and local Ara-
bic-language news agencies.
The "Egyptian Coordination of Rights and Freedoms" was established in Egypt as an
independent human rights civil society organization to express the pains and concerns
of Egyptian citizens after the organizers of the organization recognized systematic hu-
man rights violations in Egypt, and the need within society to provide unconditional
assistance to victims and their families.
The first founding conference of the organization was held on the first of August,
2014, which was followed by an inaugural conference on August 18, 2014, held in the
Egyptian Journalists’ Syndicate. There was broad participation of many movements
and civil society organizations in Egypt, human rights activists, and extensive media
coverage.
Our Vision:
A homeland free of human rights violations, realizing every person's natural right to live
in freedom, justice, and with human dignity, and to enjoy these conditions regardless of
ideology, skin color, political approach or ideals, or social status.
Our Message:
Support all the oppressed and defend them against the violations to which they are ex-
posed.
A Brief about the Coordination
About the Organization
The Coordination is On the Side of Humanity
Egyptian Coordination for Rights and Freedoms
The Struggle for the Freedom and Dignity of Egyptians

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Objectives:
1 Establish cooperation between all parties, institutions and activists to monitor and
document human rights violations.
2 Develop a culture promoting human rights work and community volunteering among
youth, helping them to monitor and document human rights violations and to defend
the oppressed.
3 Support and protect the most vulnerable sectors of society by asserting their rights
and equality with others in the community, particularly women, children, the disabled,
and ethnic and religious minorities.
4 Build an archive documenting all human rights violations in Egypt.

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The report tells about the violations that took place during the period from
January through December of 2015, with reference to some figures and
statistics about the violations which took place in the two years previous.
Methodology
The Time Period
Terminology
1 Enforced Disappearances:
kidnapping or detaining or any deprivation of any kind of liberty of any
person for political reasons, followed by a refusal to acknowledge its occur-
rence; or the deprivation of one’s liberty and the refusal to announce his
place and not present him for prosecution within 48 hours of his detention,
restricting his freedom without acknowledgement.
2 Physical Liquidation
homicide that is carried out by security forces against a citizen such that
he is killed by live ammunition, by throwing him from the roof of a home, or
any other means of murder during detention or after.
3 Extra Judicial Killings:
homicide which violates the law without a court ruling on a citizen or sev-
eral citizens, whether murder, physical liquidation, medical negligence, tor-
ture, disbursing demonstrations, and all other forms of homicide in viola-
tion of the law.
4 4 Hostage-Taking:
detention of an individual or a group of individuals to coerce someone to
surrender to any security body of the Egyptian State.
5 Unfair Dismissals:
dismissal from a public and private workplace due to the political position
of the individual, and not as a result of a professional error
6 Torture:
every act which results in severe pain and suffering, whether physical or
mental, financially or morally intentionally inflicted on a person to coerce
him to reveal information or to affiliate with an act or an organization, or to
force others to do a specific act or to prevent him from doing something.
7 Arbitrary Arrest and Detention:
the process of arresting and detaining an individual or a group of individ-
uals - sometimes with judicial permission - when there is no evidence of
wrongdoing.

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1 The Coordination relies on a special team of jurists to issue reports and studies,
through monitoring and field visits and meetings with victims and their families.
2 The report also relies on published reports and data from government and
official bodies, comparing the government's account with what is documented
from the victims' families or witnesses in addition to official records.
Further Notes
1 This report does not include the conditions in Sinai because it is impossible to
monitor and document there directly. It does include those identified violations
within the scope of the Arab Republic of Egypt, whether the violation was against
Egyptians or foreigners, or violations against Egyptians abroad.
2 This report only circumstantially refers to the cases of deaths in the ranks of the
armed forces and the police because it is impossible to communicate with their
families or to document the cases accurately because of a lack of information.
3 This report does not include the conditions of Egyptians who were forced to
flee Egypt as refugees to other countries due to political conditions in the country
because of the difficulty of gathering information.
4 All terms used in this report have been agreed upon by the reporting unit in the
Coordination based upon the legal description of the term and its government
and security use.
5 The difference in the statistics that may exist from one report to another is be-
cause the members of the Coordination are constantly checking, updating, and
correcting their information based upon their investigations.
6 The statistics and figures presented in these reports are not final, as they are
subject to the constant checking by the organization's monitoring and documenta-
tion teams.
Collection of information

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The rights that are protected and the personal privileges for all citizens under the law,
including the right of safety, liberty, personal security, and justice, procedural rights
of the defendant, individual freedoms and political freedoms.
We find that these rights that are disclosed in the International Covenant
for Civil and Political Rights from article 6 to article 27, confronted by a
number of serious violations during 2015, such as:
1- Qualitative analysis of violations such as murder, torture, disappearance, military
trial, etc.
2 -The most vulnerable groups particularly women, children, the disabled, and refu-
gees.
3- Special file for professionals, specifically journalists, human rights activists, law-
yers, and university staff members.
4-Violations against students.
5-Legislations enacted without a parliament.
1- Suicide
2-Occupational dismissal
The third section discusses the national and international legal frameworks protect-
ing human rights.
Finally, the recommendations were distributed according to the competen-
cies and responsibilities of each party in Egyptian society, according to the
following:
Executive summary
The first section covers five categories of violations of civil and political
rights, which are:
The second section covers economic and social rights. The report
focuses on just two forms of violations of the social and economic
rights of Egyptians, which are
- In the light of the efforts of the Egyptian Coordination for rights and freedoms to
monitor the status of human rights in Egypt, we have issued the report about the
human rights situation in the year 2015 entitled, “Human Rights in Egypt: What
Could Possibly Be Worse?”
Part I: Civil and Political Rights
Based upon the efforts of the Egyptian Coordination to issue a professional human
rights report, we have divided this report into three sections

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The human right to life (infringed upon by arbitrary killings and the death penalty),
prohibiting torture and cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment. The Egyptian Co-
ordination monitored three categories of breaches of this right:
A- Arbitrary Killing:
DDuring 2015, the Egyptian Coordination monitored 335 cases of extrajudicial killings
where: 7 citizens were killed by execution; 27 citizens were murdered through tor-
ture; 87 citizens were murdered by medical negligence; 50 citizens were murdered
during protests; and 143 citizens were killed by live ammunition or by throwing them
from the rooftops or by killing them in an unknown explosive accidents; apart from
21 dead due to sectarian violence.
B- Torture
During 2015, 387 cases of torture were documented based on the complaints re-
ceived directly from victims’ families; a total of 876 cases of torture were document-
ed, including cases without verification from victims’ families.
C- Death penalty
We monitored 1763 cases that were referred to the Grand Mufti, including 1758
males and 5 females, of whom four defendants died in detention after referral to the
Grand Mufti. During the time period of the report, 729 death sentences were issued;
of whom 427 were sentenced to death and their appeal has not yet been consid-
ered; 260 were sentenced to death and their appeal was granted, granting a retrial; 7
were sentenced to death, their appeal was granted with a retrial, and then they were
sentenced to death for the second time; 56 were sentenced to death, and they face
Safety from arrest or detention, and the right to habeas corpus, which imposes
procedural controls on detention requiring informing promptly any person exposed
to detention of the charges against him and presenting him promptly to a compe-
tent court for trial.
Many violations of this right were observed during this period including cases of
arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, and referral to military trials for civil-
ians, according to the following instances:
A- Arbitrary Detention:
The Egyptian Coordination observed during 2015 approximately 23,000 cases of ar-
bitrary detention of Egyptian citizens. Most of these citizens are under temporary
detention, or have been referred to trial - military or civilian trials - in which they are
not guaranteed a fair trial.
(1) The Right of Physical Safetythe
(2)The Right to Liberty and Security of Person

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Freedom of movement, thought, and expression, freedom of association and
assembly, the right to citizenship, and the right to privacy.
A-Freedom of Movement:
During this period the siege of several villages and cities was observed in various
governorates of Egypt, preventing citizens from moving freely, restricting them, and
arbitrarily detaining a large number of citizens.
In addition to this, a large number of citizens were prevented from traveling,
particularly jurists, journalists, and community figures.
The number of Egyptian prisons increased from 42 to 51 after nine new prisoners
were built in 2015.
B- Freedom of Thought and Expression:
The Coordination witnessed the following violations of Egyptians’ freedom of
thought and expression, particularly targeting media workers and journalists:
i-The killing of 4 journalists in different violent incidents.
ii-The enforced disappearance and torture of 14 journalists.
iii- One-hundred and ninety-three (193) instances of physical abuse during media and
press coverage.
iv- Fifty (50) cases of arbitrary detention of journalists and media workers.
v- Thirty-eight (38) journalists and media workers were referred to criminal trials,
whether civilian or military trials.
vi- 12 television programs were prevented from airing.
vii- Egyptian security and/or police raided the headquarters of 14 newspapers, satel-
lite television channels, and news websites.
viii- In addition to the huge intransigence in dealing with journalists and media people
particularly those inside prisons.
Enforced Disappearance:
We observed 1840 cases of enforced disappearance of Egyptian citizens during the
period of observation; approximately 366 of these cases are still regarded as enforced
disappearances at the time of this report’s publication, and we will attach to the re-
port a detailed list about people who are still considered cases of enforced disappear-
ance based upon testimony gathered from the families of the victims.
C- Referral of civilians to military trials:
We observed during this period approximately 6,048 Egyptian citizens referred to
military courts in 288 cases, including approximately 578 students and minors; ap-
proximately 74 doctors, 181 teachers, and 30 lawyers. Approximately 163 of these
cases received a ruling, wherein 18 civilian citizens were sentenced to death, more
than a thousand were sentenced to life imprisonment, and thousands more were
sentenced to serve prison terms ranging from seven to fifteen years.
(3) Individual Freedom

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The four categories of people in the community that need particular care, and are
most vulnerable to abuse are women, children, the disabled and refugees.
A-Women:
Women in Egypt are exposed to many violations of their rights and dignity. From July
3, 2013 to the end of 2015, up to two thousand girls and women were held in
detention; about sixty (60) girls and women are still arbitrarily detained. Most women
are detained in Cairo (22); there are ten (10) women detained in Damietta; there are
nine (9) women detained in Al-Dakhalia; six (6) women are detained in Giza; four (4)
women are detained in Al-Gharbia; three (3) women are detained in Alexandria; two
(2) women are detained in Beni Suef; and one woman is detained in each province of
Ismailia, Sohag, Al-Fayoum and Al-Sharqia.
B- Children:
The Coordination documented one thousand two-hundred forty-three (1,243) cases
of violations of the rights of children under the age of eighteen. In 2015, there were
approximately six-hundred and thirty (630) cases of children held in detention,
sixteen (16) cases of extrajudicial killings, two-hundred and fifty (250) cases of torture,
one-hundred and twenty one (121) cases of enforced disappearance, and eighty-nine
(89) cases of medical negligence.
C- The Disabled:
We were unable to document all of the cases of disability and disabled persons inside
Egyptian prisons and places of detention. The total number of those we were able to
observe is 480 cases of detention, imprisonment, and court rulings against disabled
persons.
D- Immigrants and refugees:
Officials recorded the presence of 80,000 Syrian refugees in Egypt; other sources have
documented approximately 250,000 Syrian refugees. The rate of violations increased
against refugees in Egypt, whereby dozens of them have been detained or subjected
to enforced disappeared for different periods. Additionally, the Egyptian state has
expanded the restrictions on the issuing of residence permits in Egypt, which has
forced many refugees to flee Egypt by various (often dangerous) means.
(4)The Most Vulnerable Groups in Society:
C-Freedom of assembly and association:
- The Coordination found a significant increase in the frequency of violations of the
freedoms of assembly and association, whether public or private meetings, as well
as instances of Egyptian security/police forces breaking into many independent me-
dia institutions and severe restrictions on human rights activists and media workers,
particularly in their right to form human rights organizations or independent media
institutions.
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- As an indication of the absence of economic and social rights, we focused in this
section on cases of suicide as well as arbitrary dismissal from the workplace as a
clear indicator of the absence of rights of workers and employees to a dignified life
and their right to a decent standard of living.
A-1. Suicide:
During 2015 the Egyptian Coordination documented approximately 215 cases of
suicide, wherein 81% (174 cases) were males and 19% (41 cases) were females.
Those in the age group of 18 to 35 years constituted 52% (115 cases) of those who
committed suicide; those 36 to 60 years of age constituted 20% (42 cases) of suicide
cases; 18% (40 cases) of those who committed suicide were of an unknown age; 8%
(18 cases) of those who committed suicide were children under the age of 17; and
there were three cases of the elderly - those over 60 years old - committing suicide.
B- Arbitrary Dismissal:
a- We documented the arbitrary dismissal of approximately 5,000 employees of the
state administrative system from the end of 2013 until the end of 2015.
b- In 2015 we documented the arbitrary dismissal from the judiciary of fifty-one (51)
judges because of their political opinions.
c- In 2015 we documented the arbitrary dismissal of six-hundred and seventy-one
(671) journalists, writers and media workers.
d- In 2015 we documented the arbitrary dismissal of forty-six (46) university profes-
sors because of their political opinions.
e- In 2015 we documented the arbitrary dismissal of approximately two hundred (200)
teachers because of their political opinions.
Egyptian Coordination of Rights and Freedoms
We have documented forty-four (44) Palestinians held in detention in Egypt and four
(4) cases of enforced disappearances.
Part II: Economic and Social Rights

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Under the pretext of fighting terrorism, all of the civil and political rights of Egyptians have
been violated, their dignity has been violated, their bodies have been violated by torture and
rape, freedom has been violated by arbitrary arrest and forced disappearance, and even the
right to life has been violated as people are killed and blood has been shed.
After killing, statements of justification are issued. The government issues any of a wide va-
riety of justifications without any traces of evidence.
During 2015, Egyptian Coordination of Rights & Freedom has monitored more than three
hundred and thirty-five (335) cases of state-sponsored homicide. As far as those killed in the
name of law and order, seven (7) Egyptians were executed, twenty-seven (27) were killed