The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) is launching today a research paper entitled “Pretrial detainees’ rights between what is supposed to happen and what really happens”. The paper monitors the discrepancy between the rights of those held in pretrial detention as stipulated in the Egyptian Constitution and international charters and conventions and the daily violations committed against those detainees who are held in custody over opinion-related cases.
The research paper addresses in detail the clear contradiction between the principle of the presumption of innocence, meaning that the accused has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty, and the Egyptian authorities’ practices against prisoners of conscience, which are represented in the protracted periods of pretrial detention.
The paper also elaborates on the Tokyo Rules pertaining to pretrial detention in criminal proceedings as well as the European Code of Police Ethics. It points out the rights of those held in remand detention as stipulated in the Egyptian Constitution, the Prisons Regulation Law No. 396 of 1956, and the Prisons (Internal) Regulations/bylaws issued upon the interior ministers’ decisions with their different amendments.
The paper concluded by introducing some of the cases related to freedom of opinion and expression, in which pretrial detainees are subjected to violations on a daily basis.
ANHRI calls on all those concerned with justice and freedom of opinion and expression to sign the petition that aims at limiting the period of pretrial detention and enabling detainees to enjoy their legal rights during their detention period, through the following link:
