Mr. Abdelrahman, including prompt and effective access to independent
legal assistance.
4.
Please provide the details, and where available the results, of any
investigation, and judicial or other inquiries carried out in relation to
consistent allegations of torture and/or cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment while in custody. If no investigation has been initiated, please
explain why and how this is compatible with the international human
rights obligations of Egypt.
5.
Please provide information on whether any steps were taken to assess
the possible risk faced by Mr. Abdelrahman and his protection needs,
including to his right to life and not to be subjected to torture and other
cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
6.
Please provide steps taken by your Excellency’s Government to
implement the CAT and ban torture under all circumstances. Please
provide any policies or legislations that ensure prisoners are not treated
discriminatorily based on their religion or belief in addition to
accommodating their religious needs in prison.
7.
Please provide information on measures adopted by your Excellency’s
Government to ensure the right of persons to effective remedy for human
rights violations, including arbitrary arrest and detention, torture and illtreatment. If no such measures have been taken, please explain how this
is compatible with the international human rights obligations of Egypt.
While awaiting a reply, we urge that all necessary interim measures be taken to
halt the alleged violations and prevent their re-occurrence and in the event that the
investigations support or suggest the allegations to be correct, to ensure the
accountability of any person responsible of the alleged violations.
We may publicly express our concerns in the near future as, in our view, the
information upon which the press release will be based is sufficiently reliable to indicate
a matter warranting immediate attention. We also believe that the wider public should
be alerted to the potential implications of the above-mentioned allegations. The press
release will indicate that we have been in contact with your Excellency’s Government’s
to clarify the issue/s in question.
This communication and any response received from your Excellency’s
Government will be made public via the communications reporting website within
60 days. They will also subsequently be made available in the usual report to be
presented to the Human Rights Council.
We would like to inform your Excellency’s Government that after having
transmitted an urgent appeal to the Government, the Working Group on Arbitrary
Detention may transmit the case through its regular procedure in order to render an
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