Special Reports | ECESR Solidarity Activities During 2013
ECESR solidarity activities, defending citizens’ rights, and campaigns during 2013
The year 2013 was full of momentous circumstances. Economic and political crises confronted Egyptians in their third year of revolution. But the people insisted on resisting these events and belligerent policies, whether under the rule of Muhammad Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, in the first half of the year, or the new regime, under the control of the military, in the second half.
On the forefront of Egyptian people, the working class showed its ability to maintain the struggle, taking heroic stances in the face of the various methods used by both regimes in collusion with company managers and businessmen, which were full of exploitation, arbitrary dismissals, and prosecution of workers’ leaders and unions that moved to protect their workers.
However, it was not merely the working class who controlled the scene. Many citizens used various methods of struggle to protest against the poor living situation in their regions and lack of security, despite the return of the oppressive fist of the police, as if the revolution never happened.
The Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights spared no efforts to continue protecting workers, the poor, and the oppressed in this country, always in solidarity with them and using the path of litigation as a method for recovering rights, which are deteriorating day after day.
This report is in two sections. The first will highlight the struggle and exemplary role of the working class, through tracking some of the protests monitored by ECESR in 2013, which were part of many battles fought by workers and which will be in a separate section. The second section will present the various issues undertaken by ECESR, through direct solidarity or litigation in the courts, as a means to return lost right and imposing demands through the law.
First: Protests and Workers’ Struggles Monitored by ECESR in 2013
January
1) Covering the Shebin el-Kom court case;
2) Street vendors sit-in outside Helwan Metro station, demanding that the Governorate find alternative solutions, instead of cutting off their only source of livelihood, opening the garden across from the station, and installing booths for the street vendors inside the garden;
3) Sit-in and strike by more than 500 daily workers and contracted workers in SUMED’s Alexandria and Suez branches;
4) The conclusion of the sit-in by Pearl Glass Company workers and Pearl Egypt Company in the Sixth of October City;
5) Dubai Ports (DP World) in Ain al-Sokhna terminates its contract with Platinum Maritime Company, which employed 1200 people in the port, who had been working there for 8 years;
6) Workers at LEONI Wiring Systems Egypt (car cable harnesses factory) hold a sit-in;
7) Arrest of 12 Masters and PhD students during the breakup of their sit-in;
8) Yahya Mahmoud, a 24 year old worker in SUMED Suez commits suicide after participating in a sit-in;
9) Protest workers of Ghabbour factory, demanding an investigation of Chairman Raouf Ghabbour dismissng more than 1000 workers
10) Workers in the Egyptian car company Jack hold a sit in outside the factory gates on Belbis road, demanding their due payments;
11) Protest by workers of Encobab plastics factory outside the Public Prosecutor’s office demanding to self-run the company;
12) The management of Pharaos Ceramic Factory puts Ashraf Mosbah under investigation, accusing him of instigating workers to strike and protest inside the company’s headquarters;
13) More than 100 workers from the Public Transport Authority ended their protest across from the Authority’s hospital, which was demanding to change the board of directors of the hospital, Chairman Mustafa Erfan, General Director Assem Abdel-Rahman, Clinic and Pharmacies Director Hassan Chokri, in addition to demanding the development of the Public Transport Authority’s medical facilities. Workers and some doctors from the hospital held an hour of mourning after the return of Mustafa Erfan, maintaining that the vigil was symbolic and in preparation to various escalatory actions if their demands are not met;
14) Railway workers at Misr Station in Cairo announce a gradual strike until their demands are met;
15) Workers at SUMED in Sidi Kerir lock down the company and begin a strike.
February:
1) Lawyer’s network – Suez: Sit-in and strike continue at Roca Ceramics, due to company refusing to pay financial dues;
2) Detention of 13 workers from Town Gas in Nasr City’s First Precinct, after being arrested by security personnel hired by the natural gas holding company;
3) Open sit-in and strike in all branches of Hassan Allam Company for road, bridge, and facilities construction;
4) Sit-in by more than 200 workers at the Central Rescue Garage in Cairo Governorate in Helwan;
5) More than 6,000 workers from Faragalla Company in Alexandria gather outside the company, demanding the right to enter and resume work;
6) Lawyer’s network – Alexandria: Burj al-Arab prosecutor decides to release 16 workers from the Faragello factory;
7) Dakahliya: Sit-in by workers at the Mansoura University Printing Press; Director of Printing Press assaults a worker;
8) Workers and owners of brick factories in Kafr el-Zayat block the Cairo-Alexandria agricultural road;
9) Security forces break up the sit-in at Alexandria Cement by force, using police dogs, and arrests 76 workers;
10) 28 workers remain under investigation;
11) Prosecution issues a decision to keep 18 workers in custody for 4 days;
12) Live broadcast: Workers testify about “dark labor” in Egypt.
March:
1) Conference: Egyptian Workers’ Cry at Misr Station in Alexandria;
2) ECESR press conference on the dismissal of 160 staff members at insurance company Allianz, violations against workers in the insurance sector, and tax evasion by the company;
3) Head of Nag Hammadi city council hires henchmen to attack the council’s sanitary workers who had been on strike for a week;
4) Detention of 15 Nag Hammadi city council sanitary workers inside the city’s police station, when then tried to file a complaint in the same station;
5) Sit-in by Unilever foodstuff company, due to arbitrary dismissal of 21 workers by management;
6) Workers at Vertical Jeans garments company in Ismailia block the Cairo-Ismailia desert road, to protest the decision of the company’s chairman to close the factory, making 1400 workers redundant;
7) Alexandria: 12 workers at Abu Qir Fertilizers company are arrested, during the break-up of their sit-in, and taken for investigation;
8) SUMED workers accuse bedouins from al-Ayn al-Sokhna clan and their sheikh, Mohammed Khodor, of assaulting workers who had been holding a sit-in for the past 35 days;
9) Workers at al-Dakahliya Sugar company (2500 workers) begin a sit-in inside the premises;
10) Service drivers in Ahmed Helmi and al-Munib begin a strike;
11) Minibus drivers at the 10th of Ramadan station are on strike.
April:
1) Strike by State Council staff, demanding to be put under the ministry of justice and to raise their treatment allowance from LE240 to LE500
2) ECESR organizes a press conference to launch the worker’s protests report for 2012 and the first quarter of 2013, called the year of workers’ anger;
3) Tanta Linen Company workers hold their general conference under the title of “It has to return”; (To Public Sector)
4) Press conference for contract workers at the Gas Networks Company to expose corruption in the company;
5) Workers at the Port Said Company for Engineering Works of the Suez Canal Authority in the marine arsenal enter Stirke;
6) Protest by drivers of white taxis at al-Qubba Palace and later forming a human chain along October Bridge;
7) Watch: Live broadcast of the conference on problems faced by drivers of white taxis and their strike announcement;
8) Striking railway drivers, in coordination with ECESR, hold a press conference;
9) ECESR holds a press conference (11 April) for railway drivers to announce the results of negotiations with the ministry of transportation;
10) Copy of decision to summon railway drivers to the military forces;
11) Statement: No to the Militarization of Railways … No to Terrorizing Railway Drivers;
12) Strike by Railway drivers all over the country to demand the improvement of their situation.
May
1) More than 200 workers from the Incopapp factory rally outside the Development and Export Bank in Mohandiseen demanding to put guards at the factory after several thefts had occurred.
2) Dozens of bakery owners rally outside the Ministry of Supply, calling for the cancellation of the increase in the insurance on flour sacks.
3) Gas Networks company workers rally outside the Egyptian Stock Exchange, demanding a halt on the liquidation of the Kuwait Holding Company and absorbing the Networks workers into NATGAS with permanent contracts.
4) March from Sayyeda Zainab square to the Shura Council on May Day.
5) May Day in Alexandria: Human chains in front of Mist Station to commemorate the day and calling for the improvement of workers’ social conditions.
6) Gas Networks workers strike is broken up after the failure of negotiations held between workers representatives and the petroleum minister’s first deputy.
7) Dozens of workers at the ministry of education demonstrate outside the Supreme Court.
8) Nine worker from Ain al-Sokhna port (formerly Platinum) are suspended and referred to the public prosecutor, on charges of incitement to strike and disrupt work.
9) Protest by prosecution and courts workers outside the Supreme Court.
10) The management of Gas Networks rejects the return of 85 temporary workers and 300 daily workers who had been previously dismissed.
11) Sit-in and strike by workers from the Capo Textile company continues for the 13th day in a row.
12) Workers at the General Authority For Reconstruction Projects and Agricultural Development (GARPAD) end their sit-in outside the Authority’s headquarters in Dokki, following a pledge by agriculture minister Ahmed al-Gizawy to consider their demands.
13) Workers at the housing ministry suspend their sit-in and strike temporarily, pending the payment of their May wages.
14) Workers at IFFCO edible oils company in Suez go on strike.
15) Head of the detectives units in Bab al-Shaariya moves to seize and detain 6 workers of the Abbasiya control tower in al-Zaher from their work premises.
16) Hundreds of workers of the North Cairo Electricity Company besiege the office of the company’s Chairman Engineer Awad Mansour.
17) Clashes and stone fight between Petrojet security and workers protesting outside the company’s headquarters.
18) Arrest of 15 employees at North Cairo Electricity in Nasr City who were holding a protest inside the company.
19) Drivers of white and black taxis organize a procession from the October War Panorama towards Ittihadiya Palace.
20) Protest by more than 1500 workers from all electricity production, distribution, and transmission companies nationwide.
June
1) Picture of protest by workers in Egyptian universities outside the finance ministry.
2) Sit-in by workers at the Sinai Petroleum and Mining Services Company outside the ministry of petroleum demanding to be made permanent under the petroleum and mining authority.
3) Lawyers’ network: Demonstration by hourly teachers outside the governorate building calling for instatement.
4) Press statement from Egyptian workers calling for the 30 June demonstrations.
5) Dozens of workers at Simo paper company demonstrate outside the Council of Ministers building calling for putting the company back in operation.
6) Release of 5 workers at the State Council who had been under investigation.
7) Victory for Aveco workers following a 38-day strike and sit-in.
8) Rally by real estate tax employees in Alexandria enters its fourth day.
9) Five workers at the Housing Ministry’s Water Department in Suez are referred to the Administrative Prosecution for investigations.
10) [Picture from] rally by Alexandria Spinning and Weaving Company (SPINALEX) calling for improvement of social situation.
11) Members of the Train Drivers League decide to dissolve the league and re-establish a new Administrative Board and the election of a new president.
12) Workers at SPINALEX begin a full strike.
13) Rally by the Union of Pensioners at Talaat Harb Square.
14) Minister of Civil Aviation promises workers at Cairo’s International Airport to resolve their issues.
15) Minister of Civil Aviation fires 15 workers at Cairo’s International Airport and suspends 36.
16) Press conference by drivers of white taxis concerning the dispute with the government.
17) Partial strike by customs workers at airports in Cairo, Luxor, Assiut, Sohag, Burj al-Arab, and Sharm el-Sheikh, and the seaports of Safaga and Nuweiba, in protest of the authority’s presidency’s delay in implementing their demands.
18) Sit-in by 140 workers at Pharo Pharma’s Delta branch in Mansoura.
19) Strike and sit-in by more than 3000 workers at the Salhiya Textiles in al-Sharqiya (Nour Midas).
20) Mffco Helwan workers’ strike ends following the release of their colleagues.
July
1) Protests by Cairo Oil and Soap company.
(July didn’t show much activity among the protesting sectors because of the events that followed the ousting of president Mohamed Morsi)
August
1) Army arrests 2 workers from Suez Steel Company.
2) Rally by several arbitrarily dismissed workers at Petrojet outside the Labor Office on Ahmed Orabi street demanding their return along with their colleagues.
3) Demonstration by around 400 workers from the Arab Company for Steel Industries (Al-Suwaidi) in Tenth of Ramadan City.
4) Workers at the Ministry of Communications demonstrate outside the minister’s office after he refused to pay the Ramadan bonus and package, under the pretext of restructuring and raising wages.
5) Strike by workers at the two factories for light poles and galvanizing of the Arab Company for Steel Industries (Al-Suwaidi).
6) Campaign for workers demands: “Naffiz ya nizam” (Regime, implement).
September
1) Report on demonstrations by dismissed workers outside the Labor Ministry.
2) Nile Cotton Ginning Company (NCGC) is back to public ownership after being sold in the stock exchange, which is the first return of its kind.
3) Deputy Governor of Cairo for the Western District reverses his position to allocate places for street vendors in al-Azbakia to create models with “stalls.”
4) Management of New al-Salhiya Textiles closes its doors, leaving 1500 workers out of a job.
5) Video: “Union Freedoms” law is the best draft reached yet, considered an unprecedented step for the working class.
6) Analysis Paper: Union Freedoms Bill Is a historic Turning Point in the Relationship of the State and Workers.
7) Strike by 1125 workers at Misr-Iran Textile Co. in Minya al-Qamh.
October
1) Strike by first and second shift workers at al-Amiriya for Spinning and Weaving in Alexandria.
2) Strike by garment workers at the Egyptian Company for Spinning and Weaving (Ghazl al-Mahalla) continues, following the government’s refusal to respond to their demands. Workers transfer their sit-in from Talaat Harb square in the company to the administrative building. The company agrees to respond to the demands and will distribute earnings tomorrow.
3) Around 3000 workers al-Nasr for Spinning and Weaving in al-Mahalla al-Kubra threaten to strike in the event of not receiving a bonus like the workers of Ghazl al-Mahalla.
4) The management of al-Nasr Car Company refers 3 warehouse supervisors to the public prosecutor, accusing them of theft.
5) Protest by workers of the Egyptian Navigation Company comes to an end at the administrative headquarters, sea gate 10, which was calling for the resignation of the company’s chairman.
6) Statement in solidarity with dismissed workers, their return to their work, and against breaking up their sit-in.
7) Protest by dozens of dismissed workers outside the offices of the public prosecutor, to file a complaint against the Minister of Interior and the Minister of Manpower and Immigration.
8) Contract workers at the National Cement Company end their strike following negotiations between workers and the administration.
November
1) After announcing a sit-in, 3000 workers in Military Factory 63 in Helwan suspend the sit-in following a request by the Ministry of Military Production to the union committee and 3 representatives of the workers to discuss their demands inside the ministry.
2) Protest by Pharco pharmaceutical company outside the offices of the Manpower Ministry in Alexandria, attended by representatives of the workers and the company’s legal representatives.
3) Workers from al-Mahalla Carpets attack their colleagues who had been on strike for several days and who were calling for the release of their salaries for the previous two months, leading to several injuries including women.
4) Strike and sit-in by Samanoud Weaving and Terries; hundreds of workers block the railway between Damietta and Tanta for the third time in a row, in protest of late salaries.
5) Al-Mahalla Carpet company force the general commissioner for Egypt Weaving and Textiles and the Chairman of Mahalla Carpets, Ibrahim Bdeir, to fulfill their demands.
6) Workers at al-Beheira joint stock company hold a protest outside the administrative building, during negotiations between the administration and workers representatives.
7) Protest by al-Suwaidi cable company outside the Egyptian stock exchange in central Cairo, in protest of the management’s decision to liquidate its branch in Abu Rawash.
8) Strike and sit-in by around 15,000 workers in the Hatim and Orabi factories belonging to Asfour Crystal, in protest of the liquidation campaign by the company’s chairman Walid Asfour against the company’s workers.
9) The management of Cairo Airport Company transferred the deputy head of the union committee, Shaaban Omar Moussa, from the general directorate of passenger movement to the warehouse directorate, after he expressed solidarity with his colleague Ahmed Samir who had criticized the management on his personal Facebook account.
10) Hundreds of workers at the Internal Transportation Project in Sharqiya governorate hold a protest outside the governorate general office, against the contracts, asking for fixed contracts according to the law because they are working on the project.
11) Workers’ seminar, “Labor and fixed contracts between reality and the law,” at the Alexandria branch of ECESR.
December
1) Hundreds of steelworkers demonstrate outside the Council of Ministers.
2) Hundreds of real estate tax employees gather from all around the governorates outside the Ministry of Finance and hold a rally.
3) New victory for steelworkers: Following an agreement between worker representatives and the Ministers of Industry, Trade, and Social Solidarity, steelworkers end their strike.
4) Social justice | Following the steelworkers’ sit-in, will the company be in line for privatization?
5) The Interior Ministry rejects to license a demonstration for Gas Networks workers, despite their presentation of a notification of 48 hours prior to the protest, under the pretext that it should be presented a week ahead.
6) Saudi investor Abdul-Ilah al-Haki dismisses 20 workers from Nuba Seed seeds company, including 7 members of an “independent” union committee, refusing to pay their dues and salaries for November, only a few days after he recovered his company from the Ministry of Agriculture.
7) Social Justice | Esaco [industrial construction company] join the lines of unemployed after being dismissed from their work.
8) Pharco pharmaceuticals in Alexandria verbally informs 56 workers of their dismissal from work, following a decision by the administrative prosecutor.
9) Rally by more than 80 workers at Shepheard Hotel, protesting the decisions to dismiss them.
10) Press conference at ECESR on the problem of company closures, laying off workers, and owners’ intransigence in paying their dues.
11) Strike by Santa Mora Blankets workers demanding share of profits.
12) Strike by more than 400 workers at Mahalla Carpets, due to the company’s rejection of paying November salaries.
13) Under the slogan “Our children are hungry and the coffers are empty,” dozens of dismissed workers from several companies demonstrate outside the Council of Ministers on al-Qasr al-Aini street calling to return to work and payment of their salaries.
14) Press conference at ECESR for workers fired from Nuba Seed, Gas Networks, and several other companies.
15) Press conference is held at the ECESR offices in Alexandria in solidarity with independent unions in Alexandria.
16) Strike by the National Cement Company due to a colleague getting injured while working; he was transferred to hospital the day before to have his spleen removed.
17) Press conference for political and workers’ groups calling for the quick issuing of the union freedoms law.
18) Series of workshops on the “freedom to form unions” draft law.
Second: ECESR Activities Defending citizens’ rights in 2013
December 2013
1) ECESR and other organizations condemn the Abdeen Court ruling on 22 December 2013 against Ahmed Maher, former coordinator of the April 6 Youth Movement; Mohamed Adel, media spokesperson for the movement and volunteer at ECESR Media Unit; and Ahmed Douma, political activist and former member of the Higher Council for Culture. They were sentenced to 3 years in prison and fined LE50 thousand each, after being convicted for several charges, including holding a demonstration without a informing security authorities and assaulting Central Security Forces guarding the Abdeen courthouse. The organizations saw a defect in justice in Egypt, especially since the ruling was issued quickly, raising skepticism about the validity of the applied procedures against 3 young January 25 revolutionaries, due to their practice of their right to free expression through peaceful demonstration. At the same time, those who committed crimes against demonstrators remain at large are are untouched by the hands of justice, leading to disappointment since there are many massacres that have not yet been investigated – even for show.
2) In an unjustified escalation, the police forces raided the offices of ECESR in Cairo, before midnight on 18 December 2013 and arrested and physically assaulted six workers and volunteers at the Center. They were the head of the documentary film unit Mustafa Issa and lawyer at the criminal justice unit Mahmoud Bilal, in addition the volunteers in the media unit Hossam Mohamed Nasr, Mahmoud el-Sayed, Mohamed Adel, and Sherif Ashour. They were detained without legal warrant and taken to an unknown location. Police officers vandalized some of the media unit’s equipment and furniture and seized several of the Center’s computers. ECESR maintained in a statement that the violations against its team and offices cannot be considered except in the framework of the continuous escalation of the current authority of its systematic campaign against rights centers and civil society organizations. By taking this step, the authorities moved from a phase of distortion and incitement in the media into another phase involving direct targeting without legal cover. The Center also maintained that this will not stop it from continuing to carry out its legal mission and will not detract from its determination to prosecute officials responsible for this aggression by legal means.
November 2013
3) ECESR filed a lawsuit to oblige the state to complete the treatment of the injured citizen Moawad Adel Moawad, despite a former ruling achieved by the patient’s family for full coverage of cost of treatment without a ceiling and reports by doctors in London saying that his situation is improving and recommending the continuation of his treatment in that country, both issues which was met by intransigence by the Egyptian state, which neglected the life of an Egyptian citizen who was sacrificing for the good of his country, as if he was being punished for participating in the January revolution.
4) The Board of Commissioners of the State Council gave two recommendations on two separate cases presented by ECESR lawyers at the Administrative Courts. The lawyers requested to consider Mohamed Hussein Qorani, AKA Kristi, and Gaber Salah Gaber, AKA Jika, as martyrs of the January 25 Revolution. Both were victims of deposed president Mohamed Morsi and his interior ministry. This came in conjunction with the first court sessions against Morsi, who is being accused of incitement to kill demonstrators against him outside the Ittihadiya Palace in December 2012.
September 2013
5) ECESR lawyers succeeded in getting an innocent verdict for those accused by the public prosecutor of killing the Suez demonstrators in the events that followed the massacre of the Ultras in Port Said in February 2012. The court sentenced 10 of them to 5 years in prison on other charges.
6) In an unprecedented decision, the Higher Administrative Court ruled on the invalidity of the privatization of a company and its sale on the stock exchange. The company in question was Nile Cotton Ginning and ECESR was part of the defense team.
7) Lawyers at ECESR Alexandria branch filed two lawsuits before the Administrative Court of the State Council against the President, Interior Minister, and Foreign Minister, demanding the repeal the decision of National Security to deport more than 500 Syrian refugees, who had been arrested and the Public Prosecutor later decided to release them. However, they remained in the custody of National Security in Karmouz, Muntazah 2, and Abu Qir police stations in Alexandria and Rosetta in al-Beheira, awaiting deportation in violation of Egypt’s obligations under the Refugee Convention.
8) The Criminal Court continued to consider the case of the assault on the Nile City Towers, where 51 citizens from Ramlet Boulaq are facing prosecution in the wake of the incident known in the media as the “Nile City Towers events.” The incident involved to and fro fighting between some residents and policemen on the night of 2 August 2012, after the Touristic Police killed Amr al-Bunni, a resident of Ramlet Boulaq, for allegedly imposing royalties on the owners and administration of the Nile City Towers. ECESR lawyers are representing the residents of Ramlet Boulaq.
9) On 15 September, ECESR acquired an innocent verdict for two doctors, one nurse, an X-ray technician, and a statistician at the Hamiyat al-Arish Hospital, who were arrested following a terrorist attack at a military point close to the Arish Airport on 24 July 2013.
10) ECESR lawyers filed a lawsuit before the Administrative Court against: the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Health, and the head of the General Directorate for Specialized Medical Councils, each in his capacity, for rejecting to allow an Egyptian citizen her right to treatment at the expense of the state, and called for state protection of the right to health.
August 2013
11) The Board of State Commissioners issued a report on 21 August 2013 in the Qursaya Island case related to the dispute between the residents of the island and the military forces, in favor of the residents. The residents were being defended by ECESR lawyers among others. The Commission recommended that the ruling should be to “accept the lawsuit in form and content by annulling the contested decision and its repercussions, particularly obliging the Ministry of Defense to withdraw the armed forces and units deployed on the island and compelling the state to pay the expenses.”
12) The Administrative Court issued a ruling in the lawsuit filed by ECESR, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), and several other lawyers representing the resident of Ramlet Boulaq against the Prime Minister, the Governor of Cairo, and the Chairman of the Board of the Informal Settlement Development Fund to stop the execution of Cairo Governor’s decision to temporarily confiscate the lands of the Nile Towers slums (Boulaq Abu el-Ela neighborhood) in Cairo governorate.
June 2013
13) ECESR, in coordination with the Arab Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) and the law offices of Khaled Ali, Ali Ated Atiya, Mohamed Mahmoud Hassan, Gamal Sayed Abdel-Radi, Mohamed Farouk Saad, Noureddin Mohamed Fahmi, and Rawda Ahmed (lawyers), filed a lawsuit against the President, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Electricity, the Minister of Local Development, the Minister of Investment, the Minister of Trade and Industry, the Governor of Cairo, the head of the Consumer Protection Agency, the Chairman of the Egyptian Electric Holding Company, and the head of the Egyptian Electric Utility & Consumer Protection Regulatory Agency. They lawsuit called for obliging the defendants to prepare and announce a general and comprehensive schedule for each governorate indicating the times of rationing for each area and street in the governorate, with all what this entails.
May 2013
14) ECESR submitted a report prepared in cooperation with the Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR) in the US on the economic and social situation in Egypt. The report outlined the main concerns identified by the center related to the economic situation in Egypt, on the occasion of Egypt’s periodic review at the Working Group of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the UN.
April 2013
15) Lawyers from the Criminal Justice Unit at ECESR filed a request to the Supreme Court to revoke the immunity of the Public Prosecutor and the President of the Court of Cassation for their unwillingness to implement the provisions of the amnesty law issued earlier, by rejection to bestow amnesty on some of those who were convicted in incidents supporting the revolution.
16) In the framework of the ECESR campaign against the IMF loan to Egypt and its ramifications concerning the amendment of economic and social policies, lawyers from the Center filed an appeal at the Cairo Administrative Court against the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Supply and Trade, the Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, the Minister of State for Local Development, and the Minister of Finance. The action appealed the decision to raise prices, including household butane gas containers, which will be an additional economic burden on families – including some of the appellants-, and called to stop the implementation of the law and its annulment.
February 2013
17) The Administrative Court began looking into a lawsuit to prohibit the Ministry of Interior from using lethal weapons or tools in breaking up demonstrations, including shotgun shells and tear gas. The case was filed by ECESR and El-Nadeem Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture on behalf of Malek Mostafa and Fatima Abed. They were later joined by ANHRI, the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE), and EIPR.
18) ECESR lawyers filed a lawsuit on behalf of Hazem Abul-Magd and Mohamed Anwar Abu Zikra against the Minister of Transportation, the Minister of Insurance and Social Affairs, the Governor of Cairo, the Governor of Giza, the Chairman of the Public Transport Authority, and the Chairman of the Egyptian Company for Metro Management and Operation. The lawsuit called to stop the implementation of the negative decision rejecting to issue a decision in favor of the appellants granting them free permits to use transportation provided by the Public Transport Authority and the Egyptian Company for Metro Management and Operation, due to their suffering from disabilities.
January 2013
19) Lawyers from ECESR filed a lawsuit on behalf of touristic guide Sally Salahuddin Ahmed Suleiman against the Prime Minister, the Minister of Antiquities, the Minister of Interior, and the Governor of Cairo in their capacity. It called to put an end to violations against Emir Saeed Halim Palace, known as the Champoleon Palace.
20) In the framework of ECESR’s campaign to pressure for the improvement of the Egyptian railway, especially security measures such as maintenance of trains, signal systems, and barriers. ECESR lawyers filed a complaint to the Public Prosecutor against the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, the Minister of International Cooperation, the Minister of Transport, and the Egyptian Railway Authority. The public prosecutor referred the complaint to the Central Cairo Prosecutor to take necessary legal measures.
Similarly, ECESR filed a lawsuit against the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Transport, and the head of the Egyptian National Railway Authority for failing to create a technical committee with standard specifications to evaluate the validity of the railway system in Egypt. This was in addition to the preliminary evidence lawsuit against the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Transport, the Egyptian Railway Authority, the Minister of Finance, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
21) ECESR lawyers filed a lawsuit, representing several workers from the San el-Hagar Agricultural Company against the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Investment, the Chairman of the National Construction Company, the head of the Central Administration for Accounting, and the legal representative of San el-Hagar Agricultural Company (SAE). The suit called for stopping the implementation and the repeal of the management’s decision to sell 95% of the company to the Union of Shareholder Workers in the company and its consequent effects.
22) Lawyers from ECESR, the Hisham Mubarak Law Center, el-Nadeem Center, and EIPR filed a complaint to the attorney general of East Alexandria prosecutors against the Prime Minister and the warden and officers of al-Hadra jail, accusing them of torture and sexual abuse against two persons under temporary detention in a case, Mohamed Hassan Mostafa and Ahmed Hassan Mostafa.
