CAIRO: Two Sudanese men who were detained without charge for over a year in an Egyptian prison will be resettled in the United States.
Nezar Hammad and Salah Eddin Moussa were part of a group of 11 Sudanese nationals arrested outside the United Nations High Commission for Refugees’ (UNHCR) Mohandiseen office on the morning of April 2, 2007.
The 11 had gone to the office to enquire about financial compensation for two children killed during the violent break-up of the 2005 Mostafa Mahmoud protest, during which nearly 30 people died.
The group was charged with riotous assembly and disturbing the peace but was cleared of all charges by the North Imbaba Court, which ordered their release at the end of April.
Rather than being released, the group was taken to a state security office where all but Hammad and Moussa were released.
In a statement given to Daily News Egypt in January, Hammad alleged that he and Moussa were tortured during the 38 days they were held in the state security office.
The two men were then taken to El-Qanater prison, Qaliubeya, where, Hammad told Daily News Egypt, they were forced to either sign applications for resettlement in Kenya or stay in prison.
Hammad and Moussa made clear that the applications were made against their will to a UNHCR officer (whose name is omitted here upon UNHCR’s request) who visited them in prison on July 24, 2007.
According to Hammad’s written statement the officer gave them each LE 100 and “promised to solve this problem.
The men were not told why they were being held but Hammad said that he suspected an administrative detention order had been issued against them.
They were denied legal representation in order to challenge their detention, lawyer Mohamed Bayoumy told Daily News Egypt, adding that no explanation was provided for the refusal.
Egyptian rights groups allege that some 14,000 people are held in Egypt under administrative detention orders.
Bayoumy and Martin Jones, a researcher at the American University in Cairo’s Forced Migration Studies department sent a letter to UNHCR at the end of January in which they requested urgent action in the case and set out the legal framework governing the detention of the two men.
The letter states that neither men have committed a crime or been involved in political activity, and do not pose a threat to national security – and therefore cannot be legitimately expelled from Egypt under the exceptions to the Refugee Convention’s prohibition of refoulement in cases where a refugee commits a crime or poses a threat to public order.
The UNHCR officer next visited the two men on Jan. 27, 2008 when, Bayuomy says, an offer was made to settle them in the United States, where Hammad has a sister.
“I contacted Nezar’s sister and asked her to send a letter confirming that she is able to receive them and support them for a year after their arrival in the States, Bayuomy said.
“She sent the letter which I forwarded to UNHCR. A representative of the International Organization for Migration [which is responsible for resettlement] visited Nezar and Salah in prison in order to verify the facts and their application for resettlement was approved on Sunday, he continued.
Hammad’s brother Mohamed told Daily News Egypt that Hammad is relieved that his ordeal is over.
He added that the two men will be taken to Cairo International Airport on Tuesday afternoon.
