Vote against the president say rights groups

Egyptians should boycott the coming presidential elections or vote for one of the opposition candidates, a group of local human rights organisations said on Saturday. In a joint statement, the Arab Network for Human Rights Information (HRINFO), the Hisham Mubarak Law Centre, the Nadim Centre for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence, the National Association for Human Rights and Human Development, the Egyptian Association Against Torture, and Al-Fagr (Dawn) Institution, expressed their fears that the re-election of President Hosni Mubarak would only lead to more oppression. The statement listed the different forms of human rights violations committed during the 24 years of Mubarak's rule, including torture, political imprisonment, muzzling freedom of expression and wide spread corruption. "The repeated crimes committed during Mubarak's rule against thousands of Egyptian citizens were not only limited to torture. These crimes included all forms of violations including unjust trials, absence of freedom of expression and violations to the right to peaceful association, in addition to guarantees to establish political parties and professional unions, and fabricating cases against political and human rights activists," the statement said. According to Gamal Eid, director of HRINFO, the stance taken by these organisations is not a political one. "It is a human rights stance in the first place. As human rights organisations we can't give a blind eye to gross violations of human rights and it is our duty to tell the people what we think," he said. Mubarak has said in several occaisions over the past week that he was open to critcism and would guarantee freedom of speech. In February this year, President Mubarak called upon the legislative bodies to revise the constitution so as to allow competitive presidential elections. Ten candidates, including the president, are running for the elections of which the results will be known late on Wednesday, 7 September. Earlier this month, the London-based Amnesty International issued a statement concerning torture in Egypt. "Torture remains widespread and systematic, and security forces have been allowed over many years to act with virtual impunity," Malcolm Smart, Director of Middle East and North Africa programme, said in the statement. Accordingly, the organisation has called upon the newly elected president to take all necessary decisive actions to end torture and other forms of human rights violations. "No thorough, prompt and impartial investigations have been conducted into the hundreds of complaints of torture and deaths in detention that have been filed in recent years. The impunity afforded to those responsible for torture and ill-treatment ultimately encourages such abuses," the release said. The press release also welcomed the establishment of the National Council for Human Rights in 2004, yet Amnesty said that it should play a greater role in promoting respect for human rights in Egypt. NCHR Secretary General, Mokhles Kotb, however, emphasised the fact that the council is a consultative body. "We have raised our first annual report to the government and all concerned authorities and we now know that the government is taking all necessary procedures to deal with such violations," he said.