The Ministry of Interior’s statement includes charges that defame and intimidate the suspects.
International law prohibits the extradition of persons to countries that subject people to torture and does not have an independent judicial system.
Arab Organisation for Human Rights in the UK (AOHR UK) condemned the Kuwaiti Interior Ministry’s statement and video in which it announced the capture of Egyptian “terrorist cell elements” who entered the country to escape from Egypt after they were handed down convicting sentences.
AOHR UK said that the ministry’s statement carried a pretext to justify the handover of the convicts without presenting them before a competent judiciary, and misleading public opinion by using terms that the Egyptian regime itself uses to demonise its opponents.
AOHR UK asserted that the Kuwaiti Ministry of Interior could have presented the convicts before a competent court to determine the legality of their residence and the reasons for their escape from Egypt before issuing the charges arbitrarily and defaming the persons, and announcing their intention to extradite them to a regime whose policy is that of torture and murder.
AOHR UK stressed that international law and related conventions signed by Kuwait prohibit the extradition of persons to a country where enforced disappearance and extrajudicial killings are rampant; torture is used as a policy to extract fabricated confessions; and where the country’s justice system is collapsed and judicial decisions politicised.
AOHR UK noted that this is not the first time that Kuwait handed over people without presenting them before a competent court. Recently, Nawaf Al Rasheed was handed over to Saudi Arabia in a manner similar to kidnapping.
AOHR UK demanded that Kuwaiti authorities desist from handing over the convicts to Egyptian authorities, and to investigate the cases in which their verdicts were issued and study the evidence. Indeed, what is clear within the international community and within international organisations is the belief that the Egyptian judiciary imposes the charge of terrorism upon all its opponents, based on flawed laws issued by the regime and contrary to international conventions.
AOHR UK calls upon the Kuwaiti government to take full responsibility for the safety of the detainees and calls upon civil society elements in Kuwait to not be swayed by the Ministry of Interior’s statement and accusations. AOHR UK calls upon the government to abide by international laws and stop the deportation of the Egyptian citizens.
