CASE No - Inter-Parliamentary Union

- 3 - CL/183/SR.1
ANNEX XIX
Considering that several requests by the Committee to carry out a mission and gather firsthand
information from the competent authorities and from Mr. Nour, his family and his lawyer to clarify
the sometimes conflicting information on file were rejected despite the Speaker's efforts to organize the
mission and, more particularly, to secure a visit to Mr. Nour, which the Attorney General, however,
deemed contrary to Egyptian law and interference with the Egyptian judiciary,
Considering that, in May 2008, the Attorney General reiterated his previous position and
stressed that there was no precedent for a foreign body or representative thereof to visit an Egyptian
prisoner; noting in this respect that the international non-governmental organization Human Rights
Watch/Middle East Watch (HRW/MEW) had been authorized to conduct a fact-finding mission to Egypt
in January and February 1992 to investigate arrest and detention practices and allegations of torture of
individuals held in the custody of the security forces, that the HRW/MEW delegation, composed only of
foreign nationals, had been able to visit six Egyptian prisons, including Tora Liman prison, over an eightday
period, and that the public report on the mission, issued in March 1992, clearly indicates that the
HRW/MEW representatives were authorized to interview prisoners in their prisons; that, however, the
Prison administration, in a letter forwarded by the Speaker stated that it had no information in this
respect; that, furthermore, Egyptian sociologist Professor Saad Eddin Ibrahim, founder of two important
human rights organizations, when incarcerated in Tora Farm Prison from 2000 to 2003 was visited by
former Canadian Foreign Minister Flora McDonald, Ambassadors of various European Union countries,
the President of the American University in Cairo, a US citizen as well as representatives of Amnesty
International and Human Rights Watch,
Noting that in late May 2008 Mr. Nour reportedly suffered from food poisoning which
severely affected his health and left marks on his skin, that he was apparently not taken to hospital until
a week later; that, in his letter of 31 August 2008 the Speaker provided documents indicating that,
according to the authorities, on 8 June 2008 Mr. Nour was taken to the hospital because of a suspected
heart attack and received the necessary treatment before being taken back to prison,
Bearing in mind lastly that on 23 July 2008 President Mubarak, by Presidential Decree
No. 200 pardoned over 1,500 prisoners having, like Mr. Nour, served half of their sentences; that,
however, forgery was exempted from the Decree while, according to the sources, crimes such as
murder, torture, corruption, espionage and state security crimes along with 60 other crimes were
included and that Mr. Nour consequently was not covered by the pardon; that another pardon decree
of October likewise excluded forgery from its scope; that, according to the Speaker, all presidential
pardon decrees since 2002 have excluded forgery; that, however, according to the source, the majority
of pardon decrees issued in the past by President Mubarak did not exclude forgery from their scope,
1. Thanks the Speaker of the People’s Assembly for his consistent cooperation, in particular
his letters of 31 August and 13 October 2008, and regrets that the Committee was unable
to meet with him at the session it held during the 119 th IPU Assembly;
2. Deeply regrets that the Attorney General has not authorized the Committee to visit
Mr. Nour, although permission to visit Egyptian prisoners was granted in the past to
foreigners, including to non-governmental human rights organizations;
3. Remains deeply concerned at Ayman Nour’s state of health, which, as stated by the
tripartite committee, requires constant medical check-ups and frequent admissions to
hospital; stresses in this context that, in its ruling of July 2007, the Administrative Judiciary
Court specified that, at the time of the examination by the tripartite committee in January
2007, there was no life-threatening condition and that since then more than 18 months
have elapsed without another thorough examination of his state of health;
4. Deeply regrets that Mr. Nour was not covered by the pardon decrees issued in July and
October this year, and calls on the President to pardon Mr. Nour,