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The Bank for Development and Agrarian Trust imprisons people instead of improving their conditions the judiciary
Egyptian farmers suffer from the arbitrariness and unjust policies of the Bank for Development and Agrarian Trust, as it is threatening to imprison more than one hundred thousand farmers who support their families who reach about one million people because these farmers weren't able to payback their debts to this Bank. The Bank gives loans to the farmers with interests that exceed 15% a year.
Two weeks ago, El Bagour farmers have made a sit-in in front of the office of the Bank's manager in El Qasr El Einy Street, the Bank's security called Qasr El Nil police station who threatened to arrest the farmers if they didn't leave. The farmers held the newspapers that contained the announcement of the Prime Minister promising to re-tabulate farmers debts for ten years without any interests. The Banks manager took a copy of this newspaper, threw it on the floor and stepped on it, and shouted "I am the manager of this Bank, I know nothing about this announcement, and not the Prime Minister or anyone else have any authority over this Bank", which made the farmers break up their sit-in without any hope for the announcement of the Prime Minister to be implemented.
Two days ago, the LCHR has received complaints from some women living in El Manashy village – Giza. One of them is called Ghada Fawzy El Sayed, she said that on 1/2/2005 she applied for a loan of seven thousand pounds from the Bank, and she received six thousand and five hundred pounds. The Bank's employee made her sign blank checks, and agreed with her that she must pay the money on six years installments with a sum of 1250 pounds a year in addition to other loan expenses. She has fully paid back the seven thousand pounds at the end of 2005, but she was surprised with a lawsuit filed against her by the Bank for issuing an uncovered check for seven thousand pounds, and the court has scheduled a session on 19/11/2006. Ghada went to the Bank to tell them that she has already paid the seven thousand pounds; the Bank's employee told her that he has received instructions to use all blank checks because the Bank wants to collect all of its money before it gets sold.
The LCHR thinks that privatizing this Bank is part of the government's pauperization policies, because this will lead to plundering the Bank's capital and selling it to big investors.
The LCHR sees that the Bank can manage the rural economy and protect small farmers (who own less than three feddans) by turning the Bank into a cooperative that can support the poor, improve and strengthen the rural economy, develop farmers economic and social conditions and make new and fair policies that can guarantee the implementation of the Bank's projects.
The LCHR demands the Prime Minister, the Prosecutor General and the Minister of Agriculture to cancel the interests of the farmers who have paid the original amounts of their debts, stop imprisoning the farmers who are not able to payback their debts and re-tabulate their debts to be paid on a ten years basis without any interests, change the Bank's policies that lead to imprisoning people and issue alternative policies that develop farmers conditions and support their rights to personal safety and decent living.
For more information, please contact the Center.