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“Sarando” a flower in the heart of the Egyptian countryside Could the general prosecutor and the minister of agriculture help its’ lands and farmers
The Damanhour inclusive court has defined Sunday 20/2/2005 to renew the detention period of some farmers from Sarando village – Damanhour station – El Behera province, the general prosecution has charged them with several accusations, like: ruining plantations, bullying and weapon possession, after one of the members of Nawwar family has filed a communiqué against these farmers stating that they have attempted to harm him, it is worth mentioning that this family claims the ownership of the lands of this village and other villages that reach an area of 12 thousand feddans in Nadenah, Hafs, El Amreya, El Borongy and El Mansheya El Gededa villages in Damanhour station, during the last week, their farmers have come to the Land Center and presented complaints of being threatened, evicted from their lands and their rights in safety have been violated by some of Nawwar family members, these events have led to the threat of the social safety in Damanhour station villages.
During several meetings held by the Center in Sarando village and surrounding villages, that some of the members of Nawwar family have brought some bullies in 19/1/2005 the day before the Greater Bairam (Eid Al Adha) and closed some roads that lead to Sarando village, but in the Eid morning, the villagers chased the bullies out of the lands and turned in some of them to Damanhour police station, the villagers say that these bullies were about 10 people carrying machineguns and some other weapons and some of them were convicts and had precedents in Damanhour police station, others mention that there are attempts to pressure them by some of Nawwar family members not to open their case of corruption (collusion with some of the official employees to take over the distributed lands) in return of giving them some areas to own, but the farmers refused such individual solutions and insisted that Salah Nawwar should relinquish the fabricated communiqué against some of the villagers, leave the rest of the agrarian lands in the village owned by the agrarian reform institution to the farmers and stop threatening to evict them from their lands by using his wealth, power and relations with the officials.
On the other hand, some of Sarando farmers mentioned that there are attempts by some of the officers of Damanhour police station threatening farmers to relinquish the filed communiqués that they have presented along with the Land Center to the general prosecutor in Damanhour prosecution against the chief of police after his assault on their homes and fabricating lawsuits against them.
It is worth mentioning that in the beginning of 2005, Sarando village have faced a disciplinary, humiliation and torture campaign against some of its’ villagers (men and women) by the chief of Damanhour police station, and the Center has filed reports and presented complaints to the desk of the general prosecutor and the minister of internal affairs to investigate these events and take the necessary legal procedures to trial the ones responsible of practicing collective torture on the people of Sarando village without any legal documents.
On the other hand, the Center has received tens of complaints from other villages related to Damanhour station, stating that some of the employees of the agrarian reform institution there have violated the law concerning the release of the lands of these villages, as they weren’t supposed to release some of the areas that include hundreds of feddans, because they are considered emergency possessions (as when the agrarian reform institution gives you a piece of land, they expect you to sell or rent it in a defined time period, then they release another piece of land, but they kept releasing pieces of lands to Nawwar family who didn’t do that and kept the land for them selves which have made them own a very large area of land) according to the law no. 178 for the year 1952 and law no. 127 for the year 1961, as the committee that gave the decisions of the land release didn’t have reports that show the areas and borders of the lands and didn’t observe or examine the lands on the field to give these lands to Nawwar family who don’t have ownership documents for these lands, and receiving them is considered a violation of the law as they are owned to the agrarian reform institution.
Some of the complaints have confirmed that some documents have been stolen from the headquarters of associations related to the agrarian reform institution that prove the institutions’ ownership of hundreds of feddans in the area, others mention that these documents have been sold with hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Other villagers say that now there aren’t any original copies of the land release reports nor in the takeover administration, the area institution or the agrarian reform after some of the big landlords in the area have stolen them with collusion with some employees who are being investigated.
The Center confirms that after the issuing of the presidential decision no 14610 for the year 1965, the property of Nawwar family have been put under receivership which have reached about 12 thousand feddans in Nadenah, Hafs, El Amreya, El Borongy and El Mansheya El Gededa villages, these lands should have been owned to the farmers, as they have documents that confirm that they apply to the conditions of receiving the contracts of the reform lands stolen by more than 500 families, the institution should have made distribution procedures of the ownership contracts according to the text of the 4th clause of the law no. 178 for the year 1952 with no more than 5 feddans, which didn’t happen, and this situation has continued till the issuance of the decision by the law no. 50 for the year 1969 in the 25th of June, as the Nawwar family had the right in owning 50 feddans, and after applying the law, additional areas have been found that exceed the maximum limit of land possession which violate the law, and these extra areas have been released to Nawwar family as emergency possessions on the condition that the family sell or rent these areas to others in a time period of one year from the date of receiving these lands and these actions should have recorded or registered dates in the land registry office, as according to the law, in case these lands haven’t been disposed of during the legal time period, their ownership go back to the agrarian reform institution as they are considered more than the legal rate of land possession defined by the law no. 50 for the year 1969, but the documents and complaints received by the Center confirm that these lands haven’t been disposed of during the legal period and with the collusion between some of the employees of the agrarian reform institution and some of Nawwar family members have made them continue owning these lands which is a violation of the law.
The Center confirms according to documents presented to some of the farmers that Nawwar family don’t have the right in evicting hundreds of farmerswho have possession of these lands especially that these lands are in the emergency possession areas which are officially not owned to Nawwar family.
And the Land Center requests the minister of agriculture to form a committee from the ministry of agriculture and some of the local associations and leaderships from Damanhour station to investigate these events and take the necessary legal procedures to trial some of the institutions’ employees who have caused the waste of lands of farmers and the agrarian reform institution by reviewing and examining the receivership and the land release reports of Ahmed Mabrouk Nawwar and the rest of his family members to define the exact land possession stolen and released and applying the law no. 50 for the year 1969 to protect the lands of these villages from the violations of some of the ownership claimers, protect farmers from eviction, protect their plantations from being ruined and guarantee their rights in safe land possession.
And the Center is preparing a study about the land conditions in Damanhour station villages to present it with the hundreds of lawsuits the it has filed demanding the ownership claimers and the minister of agriculture in Damanhour station not to harm the farmers in their plantations or lands, as the farmers have the right in owning these lands according to the decisions of the laws no. 178 for the year 1952, no. 268 for the year 1956, no. 148 for the year 1957, no. 50 for the year 1969, no. 127 for the year 1961, no. 168 for the year 1958, no. 205 for the year 1959, no. 128 for the year 1961 and other laws and decisions that organize the land release, estimate the values and compensations of these lands and other improvements and exceptions for the minimum limit of agrarian land possession and organizing the conditions of emergency possessions. and based on the decisions of the court of cassation for the agrarian reform law especially the challenge no. 263 for 26 judicial, no. 166 for 37 judicial, no. 1737 for 50 judicial and other decisions made by the court of cassation that confirm farmers rights in safe land possession.
And also the decisions of the constitutional courtfor distributing the stolen lands and defining the agrarian ownership especially the case (lawsuit) no. 13 for 4 judicial and other decisions that confirm farmers rights in owning these lands, which the Land Center hopes that the ministry of agriculture respond to the Centers’ and farmers requests of letting the farmers own these lands and their plantations, protecting the land resources and agrarian fortunes, guarantee farmers rights in safe land possession, suitable working opportunities and protect their families from eviction and displacement.
And the Center requests the minister of internal affairs and the general prosecutor to investigate the complaints and reports presented by the Center and the villagers to stop the violations against the people of Sarando village and guarantee their rights in a safe life.
And the Center adjures all of the national forces, civil society organizations and freedom committees in the lawyers’ syndicate to be united in solidarity with Sarando farmers to protect farmers rights in freedom, personal safety and a decent and suitable life.