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In the renewal elections of the Consultative Council Observers, candidates and voters are being detained … Who can protect them
Land Center for Human Rights has followed up the renewal elections of the Consultative Council in some rural constituencies that have witnessed many violations, as security forces have arrested some candidates along with some of their supporters and some of the civil society observers who most of them have been prevented from following up what is going on in the voting committees.
Many committees were closed since the beginning of the day in order to forge the results without any supervision. On that day, the LCHR has received dozens of reports about the violations in these committees (a brief is presented below).
The LCHR demands the Elections' Supreme Committee to issue a decision concerning the release of the representatives of the civil society organizations, candidates and their supporters who have been detained without any right to do so. The LCHR also demands it to take the necessary legal procedures to punish the security officers who have violated the law of practicing political rights and the decisions of the Supreme Committee in order to guarantee citizens' rights to safety, freedom and dignity.
Here is a brief about the conditions in Itsa and Bandar El Fayoum constituency – Fayoum governorate till 9 am
1. The Religious Institute committee (Bandar El Fayoum): candidates' representatives and human rights observers have been prevented from entering the committee which has been closed till now.
2. The Egyptian French Friendship committee (Bandar El Fayoum): representatives of candidate Othman Diab have been detained.
3. El Tahrir School committee (Bandar El Fayoum): the committee is closed by security forces.
4. Mohamed Salim School committee (Bandar El Fayoum): the committee has been closed till 9 o'clock and it is under heavy supervision by the security forces.
5. Toton Primary School committee (Itsa): representatives of candidate Othman Diab have been prevented from entering committees no. 82, 83, 84 and 85. A security official said that they must an authorization issued by the Supreme Committee.
6. Menya El Heit committee (Itsa): state security officer Mohamed Abdel Tawab threw out all women representatives of candidate Othman Diab, closed committee no. 283 to be forged for the favor of the National Party and detained:
Ahmed Hegazy.
• Mohamed Abdel Azim
.
• Hasan Gebriel.
• Hany Diab Hafez
.
• Mustafa Hafez.
• Ahmed Taha.
• Ahmed Sabry.
• Ahmed Sabry.
• Mohamed Gaber Dahesh.
• Mansour Abu El Nour
7. Qasr El Basel Committee (Itsa): the area's sheikhs and heads have been assigned to organize the voters entering the committee so that priority is for those who will vote for the favor of the National Party.
Conditions in Itsa and Bandar El Fayoum constituency – Fayoum governorate till 10 am:
Members of civil society organizations observing the elections have been detained and transferred to El Ezab Prison in Fayoum, and they are
• Shaban Ragab Awad.
• Hasan Fat'hy.
• Mohamed Mansour.
• Yaser Rabie Abdel Qader.
• Abdel Salam Ateya Heteta.
1. Menya El Heit committee (Itsa): the following people have made oral complaints that they have been forced to close the committees:
• Gamal Mohamed Abdel Aaty delegated to head committee no. 295.
• Atif Hosny Mohamed delegated to head committee no. 296.
• Gamal Gad Mohamed, delegated to head committee no. 198.
• Khaled Kamal Subhi, delegated to head committee no. 299.
• Sayed Kamel, delegated to head committee no. 300.
The closure of the committees was made under the supervision of the state security officer Mohamed Abdel Tawab and with the help of the following National Party supporters:
• Ali Abdel Aziz Abdel Baqy SA'd.
• Hasan Mahmoud Mekawy.
• Gamal Abdel Aziz Shat.
• Ezzat Mohamed Abdel Qader.
• Mohamed Salah Kamel.
• Abdel Qader Amin Morsy.
2. In Toton village, police car no. 26045 blocked the way of those who support the independents and confiscated their driver's license.
3. Mohamed Salim Primary School committee (Bandar El Fayoum): a female voter complained about not being to put her voting card inside the voting box that was fully filled.
4. Mrs. Rabab Mohamed Abdel Aziz has been detained in El Fayoum police station for one hour and the wife of Mr. Mohamed Marzouq has been assaulted.
5. Committees in El Tahrir School, El Faneya School for girls, Mohamed Salim Primary School and El Tawfwqeya Preparatory School have been closed by the National Party supporters under the supervision of the state security.
6. Human rights representative Mohamed Imam Dahesh stated that the rate of attendance in the electoral committees is 2 voters every one hour and yet the voting boxes are fully filled with voting cards.
7. Some voters complained orally to human rights observer Ezzat Mohamed that when they went to the committee to register their votes they found that the rolls have been closed and the voting boxes were full.
8. All of El Ma'sara committees were closed by security forces.
Conditions in Itsa and Bandar El Fayoum constituency – Fayoum governorate till 2 pm:
1. Qohafa Primary School committee (Bandar El Fayoum): the committee was completely closed and everyone who approached it on foot got arrested.
2. In Toton School committee, representatives of the independent candidate Yasser Salloma were thrown out of the committee that was closed afterwards, and they are
• Ahmed Awny Saleh with authorization no. 639314-9/6/2007
.
• Mohamed El Sayed Mabrouk with authorization no. 339157-9/6/2007.
3. Mohamed Salim Primary School: a private car with license plate no. 480477 along with a group of security forces have closed the committee for half an hour after throwing out all representatives.
4. El Tahrir School committee (Bandar El Fayoum): security forces only allow voters with green voting cards issued by the National Party. These voters enter the committee accompanied by a security officer to make sure they vote for the favor of the National Party candidates.
5. Mohamed Salim Primary School: more than 500 people from other constituencies entered the committee to cause anarchy and vote for the favor of the National Party without IDs or electoral cards.
6. On 11/6/2007, brigadier general Samir Awad head of El Fayoum security has pressured candidates Ahmed Tawfiq Abdel Karim, Yassir Salloma and El Roby Ali El Roby to withdraw from the elections for the favor of the National Party candidates.
7. Human rights observer Ezzat Mohamed Abdel Latif in Toton Primary School committee stated that security officer has ordered the following people to close the committee and manipulate the voting boxes:
• Ra'fat Moneir, head of Menyat El Heit village.
• Mohamed Lotfy Sherief, Sheikh El Khofara.
• Zaghlol Abdel Hamid
• Khalaf Morsy.
8. In Toton village, the committees didn't exceed 16 votes in each voting box, but the observers have seen a purple private car with license plate no. 400939, which stopped in every committee and closed it for a quarter of an hour, and when the committees were opened, the voting boxes were fully filled with voting cards.
9. The group of 500 people who voted in Mohamed Salim Primary School went to other electoral committees to do the same, like the experimental language school in El Sad El Aaly Street. These people were photographed by the human rights observers who have documented this incident
For more information, please contact the Center.