The Right to Education and Egypt's Prison Policies since 2013

المؤلفون

  • المؤلف

  • Saif Alislam Eid

الكلمات المفتاحية:

Right to Education، Egyptian Prisons، 2013 Egypt Coup، International Law، Egyptian Law

الملخص

This study investigates the right to education in Egyptian prisons since the July 2013 coup and the challenges that put political detainees in opposition to many authoritarian policies. Hence, it explores the guarantees of this right in international law and treaties in addition to local laws (e.g., the Prisons Organization Law and Egyptian Prison Regulations) to illustrate the contradictions between international and Egyptian law, drawing on comparisons with de facto practices in prisons. The study argues that Egyptian law prescribes authoritarian policies that nullify the rights of political prisoners to education in prisons. It addresses de facto practices affecting the rights of political detainees to education in Egypt since 2013.

المراجع

  1. A type of large prison that tends to be located in major cities and hosts the longest-serving prisoners.
  2. Amr Magdi, "Coronavirus: Egypt's Prisons Could Avoid Disaster with Conditional Releases," Middle East Eye , 16/3/2020, accessed on 26/6/2022, at: https://bit.ly/3aiIEMS; "Sujūn Miṣr: Intihākāt wa Mukhālafāt dūna Ḥisāb: Kayfa Yumkin an Tusāhim Taqārīr Ziyārāt al-Sujūn fī Taḥsīn Awḍāʿihā al-Mutadahwira?," Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights , 30/6/2016, accessed on 26/6/2022, at: https://bit.ly/3ukV4Le; "al-Sujūn al-Miṣriyya Bīʿa Ḥāḍina lil-Kūrūnā: Nisbat al-Takaddus 150%," Daraj , 26/3/2020, accessed on 25/6/2022, at: https://bit.ly/3OEFtyb
  3. Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, Fī Intiẓārik: 78 Sijnan baynahum 35 baʿd Thawrat Yanāyir: ʿan al-ʾAwḍāʿ al-Ṣaʿba lil-Sujanāʾ wa-l-Sujūn fī Miṣr (Cairo: 11/4/2021), accessed on 5/9/2022, at: https://bit.ly/3I9ingw
  4. Many Egyptian academics have been detained because of their research or for reasons pertaining to their political activism against the regime, including Ismail al-Iskandrani, Ahmed El Tohamy, Abdullah Shehata, Salah Sultan, and Amgad Gabbas. There are no accurate statistics as to their numbers. See: "Munaẓẓama Duwaliyya Tuṭālib Miṣr bil-Ifrāj ʿan Akadīmī Muʿtaqal", Arabi21 , 4/6/2021, accessed on 4/9/2022, at: https://bit.ly/3qhVDTp
  5. Muʾashshir al-Intihākāt," Freedom Seekers Monitor , accessed on 5/11/2022, at: https://bit.ly/3E4VASS.
  6. It is difficult to identify detained high schoolers, as they come and go rapidly. Many of them have faced forced disappearance and detention without trial or have been brought before civilian or military prosecutors.
  7. See: Saif Alislam Eid, "Ṭullāb Muqāwimūn: al-Nashāṭiyya al-Ṭullābiyya wa-l-Qamʿ al-Siyāsī fī-l-Jāmiʿāt al-Miṣriyya baʿd Inqilāb Yūlyū 2013," Master's dissertation, Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, Qatar, 2020 (unpublished).
  8. For more on the Egyptian judiciary, see: International Commission of Jurists, al-Qaḍāʾ al-Miṣrī: Adāt lil-Qamʿ, Ghiyāb Ḍāmināt Faʿʿāla Takful al-Istiqlāliyya wa-l-Musāʾala (Geneva: 2016), accessed on 5/8/2022, at: https://bit.ly/3qV9XSn; Mohamed El-Ansary, "Dawr al-Niyāba al-ʿĀmma al-Miṣriyya fī Qamʿ Aṣwāt al-Muʿāraḍa," Project on Middle East Democracy (July 2017), accessed on 28/6/2022, at: https://bit.ly/3I9cznt
  9. The right of prisoners to education is based on international human rights legislation. Egypt has ratified many binding international agreements, such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Nelson Mandela Rules on prisoner treatment (2015).
  10. For greater depth on the concept of contentious politics, see: Charles Tilly & Sidney Tarrow, Contentious Politics , 2 nd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2015).
  11. See: Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison , Alan Sheridan (trans.) (New York: Vintage Books, 1995).
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  13. Article 26, see: United Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights (New York: December 1948), p. 7, accessed on 25/5/2022, at: https://bit.ly/3PDJSBF
  14. Numerous reports and articles have stated that the Sisi regime is the worst in terms of human rights: Steven A. Cook, "Sisi Isn't Mubarak. He's Much Worse," Foreign Policy , 19/12/2018, accessed on 7/9/2022, at: https://bit.ly/3QnrYD1; Human Rights Watch, Egypt: Al-Sisi Should End Rights Abuses: Allies Should Push for Reform in Second Term (Beirut: 10/4/2018), accessed on 07/09/2022, at: https://bit.ly/3QxM0Lm; "Egypt 2021," Amnesty International, accessed on 6/9/2022, at: https://bit.ly/3AZvDBe
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  16. See: Interviews with AH, DS, MA, and NG.
  17. United Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights (New York: 10/12/1948), accessed on 25/3/2022, at: https://bit.ly/3nUu9Ct
  18. United Nations, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Adopted and Opened for Signature, Ratification and Accession by General Assembly resolution 2200A (XXI) of 16 December 1966 (New York: 16/12/1966), accessed on 12/12/2021, at: https://bit.ly/3R6Ls0g
  19. United Nations, The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (New York: 1967), p. 2, accessed on 25/1/2022, at: https://bit.ly/3afIAxx
  20. The ratification took place in such a way as not to contradict Islamic law, the primary basis for legislation according to the 1971 Egyptian constitution.
  21. United Nations, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Human Rights and Prisons: Manual on Human Rights Training for Prison Officials (Arabic) (New York/Geneva: 2004), pp. 92-93, accessed on 1/2/2022, at: https://bit.ly/3aayU7E
  22. Mandela Rules' on Prisoner Treatment Adopted in Landmark Revision of UN Standards," Amnesty International, 22/5/2015, accessed on 2/2/2022, at: https://bit.ly/3abPR1r
  23. Keith Suter, "The Successes and Limitations of International Law and the International Court of Justice," Medicine, Conflict and Survival , vol. 20, no. 4 (October-December 2004), pp. 344-354.
  24. i.e., all General Assembly member states have the right to representation therein.
  25. United Nations, Farīq al-Khubarāʾ al-Ḥukūmī al-Duwalī al-Maftūḥ al-ʿUḍwiyya al-Maʿnī bil-Qawāʿid al-Namūdhajiyya al-Dunyā li- Muʿāmalat al-Sujanāʾ (Vienna: 25-28/3/2014), accessed on 25/2/2022, at: https://bit.ly/3uj11Ij
  26. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, The United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules), General Assembly Resolution 70/175, Annex, Adopted on 17 December 2015 (New York: December 2015), accessed on 1/12/2022, at: https://bit.ly/3Ar9IEE.
  27. Ibid., Rules 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, pp. 2-3.
  28. Ibid., Rule 122, p. 34.
  29. Ibid., Rule 4, p. 3.
  30. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, (The Nelson Mandela Rules) , Rule 53, p. 16.
  31. For more on violations related to the intake process, see: Freedom Initiative and Egyptian Front for Human Rights, No One is Safe: Sexual Violence Throughout the Life Cycle of Detention in Egypt 2015-2022 (Washington, DC: March 2022), accessed on 15/5/2022, at: https://bit.ly/3uKw3cH
  32. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, (The Nelson Mandela Rules) , Rule 64, p. 19.
  33. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, (The Nelson Mandela Rules) , Rule 68, pp. 20-21.
  34. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, (The Nelson Mandela Rules) , Rule 78, p. 22.
  35. Saif Alislam Eid, ʿInd al-Imtiḥān: Min Dhikrayāt Ṭālib Muʿtaqal (Beirut: Umam Documentation & Research; MENA Prison Forum, 2020), pp. 15-16, 51-54; Hashad; MA.
  36. Held in Milan from 26 August – 6 September 1985; see: United Nations, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice (The Beijing Rules) , Adopted by General Assembly Resolution 40/33 of 29 November 1985 (New York: 1985), accessed on 3/2/2022, at: https://bit.ly/3IivkVi; United Nations, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty , Adopted by General Assembly Resolution 45/113 of 14 December 1990 (New York: 1990), accessed on 10/3/2022, at: https://bit.ly/3OGiu5M
  37. Adam Przeworski, Democracy and the Market: Political and Economic Reforms in Eastern Europe and Latin America (Cambridge, UK and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991).
  38. Dawn Brancati, "Democratic Authoritarianism: Origins and Effects," Annual Review of Political Science , vol. 17 (May 2014), pp. 313-326.
  39. Lynne Henderson, "Authoritarianism and the Rule of Law," Indiana Law Journal , vol. 66 (1991), pp. 379-456.
  40. See the Presidency website: Arab Republic of Egypt, Presidency, Dustūr Jumhūriyyat Miṣr al-ʿArabiyya 2019 (Cairo: 2019), accessed on 25/3/2022, at: https://bit.ly/3unVoZF. This includes Azhari education, managed by Al-Azhar Al-Sharif.
  41. Arab Republic of Egypt, "Qarār Raʿīs al-Jumhūriyya bil-Qānūn Raqm 396 li-Sanat 1956 fī Shaʾn Tanẓīm al-Sujūn," p. 4.
  42. Eid, "Ṭullāb Muqāwimūn."
  43. Arab Republic of Egypt, "Qarār Raqm 79 li-Sanat 1961 bil-Lāʾiḥa al-Dākhiliyya lil-Sujūn."
  44. We were unable to obtain the internal regulations for Egyptian prisons and discovered, upon consulting with human rights specialists, that they are not published to begin with; neither attorneys nor rights advocates can obtain them. Generally, the decision is left up to wardens, the SSI, or National Security – whomever manages to exert their influence.
  45. Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, Taʿdīlāt Lāʾiḥat al-Sujūn: Dūn al-Mustawā wa-Tanquṣuhā-l-Shaffāfiyya (Cairo: September 2014), pp. 4-5, accessed on 20/4/2022, at: https://bit.ly/3ylh8GD
  46. See: Ann M. Lesch, "Parliament Without Politics: The Effort to Consolidate Authoritarian Rule," The Philadelphia Papers , no. 12 (February 2016), accessed on 01/4/2022, at: https://bit.ly/3nE7dXX; "The 2015 Elections: The End of Competitive Authoritarianism in Egypt?," Arab Reform Initiative, 1/12/2015, accessed on 15/4/2022, at: https://bit.ly/3NNCsKP
  47. Arab Republic of Egypt, "Qānūn Raqm 14 li-Sanat 2022 bi-Taʿdīl Baʿḍ Aḥkām al-Qānūn Raqm 296 li-Sanat 1956 fī Shaʾn Tanẓīm al-Sujūn," al-Jarīda al-Rasmiyya , No. 11 bis. (b), 20/3/2022, accessed on 20/5/2022, at: https://bit.ly/3NCxWiC
  48. Law No. 52 of 2014, amending Law No. 49 of 1972, prescribed the President of the Republic's appointment of university presidents at the recommendation of the Minister of Higher Education. It also allowed the President to dismiss university heads before the expiration of their appointments if they neglect their duties: a vague phrasing that opened the door wide to their arbitrary dismissal. The same law took away the rights of faculty members to elect deans of faculties and institutes. See: Arab Republic of Egypt, "Qarār Raʾīs Jumhūriyyat Miṣr al-ʿArabiyya bil-Qānūn Raqm 52 li-Sanat 2014 bi-Taʿdīl Baʿḍ Aḥkām Qānūn Tanẓīm al-Jāmiʿāt al-Ṣādir bi-Qānūn Raqm 49 li-Sanat 1972," al-Jarīda al-Rasmiyya , No. 25 bis. (a), 24/6/2014, accessed on 20/5/2022, at: https://bit.ly/3giMXuG
  49. Eid, "ʿInd al-Imtiḥān," pp. 12-13.
  50. The study distinguishes between political and criminal prisoners in the Egyptian context due to the blatant inconsistency in how criminal offenders and political detainees are treated, especially since 2013.
  51. ElGendy described his experience in a series of articles published by Mada Masr ; see: Abdelrahman ElGendy, "ʿAn Faqd al-Amal wa-Dhawabān al-Shamʿa: Dirāsat al-Mikanīka fī Qawqaʿa," Mada Masr , 26/12/2020, accessed on 9/2/2022, at: https://bit.ly/3HvXMmo
  52. i.e., that he was under forced disappearance legally. YG.
  53. This is the label that university disciplinary committees used to refer to the wave of student activism against the regime that erupted after the military coup.
  54. See: Institute of Arab Research and Studies, Arab League Educational, Cultural, and Scientific Organization, accessed on 2/6/2022, at: https://bit.ly/3bdTTqf
  55. al-Nāshiṭ al-Miṣrī ʾAḥmad Dūma Yuḍrib ʿan al-Ṭaʿām fī al-Sijn", The New Arab , 28/3/2022, accessed on 5/6/2022, at: https://bit.ly/3Opl2F0
  56. Usrat al-Ṣaydalī Ashraf Naṣṣār Tarwī Tafāṣīl Muḥākamatihi Marratayn fī 'Aḥdāth Majlis al-Wuzarāʾ'," Almasry Alyoum , 17/11/2016, accessed on 4/6/2022, at: https://bit.ly/3N5MsP1
  57. i.e., his exam committee number.
  58. For cases of exams being held at universities, see Issam Derbala, Fuad el-Dawalibi, and Asim Abdelmagid: "Miṣr: Zuʿamāʾ al-Jamāʿa al- ʾIslāmiyya Yuʾakkidūn Ittijāhahum li-Waqf al-ʿUnf," Middle East Online , 27/6/2002, accessed on 25/6/2022, at: https://bit.ly/3y1k4YX
  59. A symbol of the 25 January Revolution, Alaa Abd El-Fattah was arrested in December 2013. His struggle to gain access to books and educational materials has been one of his most prominent demands while in solitary confinement at Scorpion Prison, before his transfer to the Wadi el-Natrun complex. See: Dima Wannous, "Munā Sayf li-al-ʿArabī al-Jadīd': ʿAlāʾ ʿAbd al-Fattāḥ Mustamirr bi-Iḍrābihi ʿan al-Ṭaʿām," The New Arab , 22/5/2022, accessed on 22/6/2022, at: https://bit.ly/3A5vLAx
  60. i.e., the title of the Brotherhood's top official.
  61. SA (2014 political detainee; virtual interview, Alexandria; 25/01/2022).
  62. See: "'We're next': Prisoner's secret filming appears to show torture in Cairo police station," The Guardian , 24/1/2022, accessed on 9/2/2022, at: https://bit.ly/3NawrYa
  63. See: Ayat al-Hibal, "'Imtaḥinūhum': Ḥamla Ḥuqūqiyya Tarṣud Ḥālāt Manʿ al-Ṭullāb al-Maḥbūsīn ʿan Imtiḥānātihim," Almasry Alyoum , 3/6/2015, accessed on 23/6/2022, at: https://bit.ly/3O5PSmd
  64. Christopher M. Sullivan, "Undermining Resistance: Mobilization, Repression, and the Enforcement of Political Order," Journal of Conflict Resolution , vol. 60, no. 7 (October 2016), p. 1164.
  65. See: Abdel-Wahab El-Messiri, Riḥlatī al-Fikriyya: Fī al-Budhūr wa-l-Judhūr wa-l-Thamar , 9 th ed. (Cairo: Dar El-Shorouk, 2018), pp. 64-88.
  66. i.e., the conventional currency inside Egyptian prisons, worth more than it would be on the outside, according to the brand – the most common of which is "Cleopatra".
  67. As this term came up repeatedly among respondents, we decided to apply it to the overall process of inter-prison transfers for exams.
  68. For more on the transport vehicles, see: "Sayyārāt al-Tarḥīlāt.. Nuʿūsh Mutaḥarrika," ARIJ , 29/12/2013, accessed on 22/6/2022, at: https://bit.ly/3OfvP4T
  69. A term used to refer to the reception rituals that security forces carry out against new prisoners or transfers, generally involving beatings, torture, and being forced to take their clothes off and relieve themselves in front of the officers. This is done for two reasons, one explicit and the other implied. First, it ensures the prisoners are not carrying any contraband. Second, it is an attempt to break their will and make them afraid of the prison administration. See: Ahmad Said, Kalām Ḥabsjiyya: Namādhij min Maskūkāt al-Sijn al-Miṣrī (Beirut: Umam Documentation & Research; MENA Prison Forum, 2021), pp. 21-22.
Cover of العدد 12, Almuntaqa

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2023-09-01

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42 مشاهدة 57 تنزيل

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مجلد 6 عدد 012 (2023): العدد 12

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