Human Rights Archives - GPIL - German Practice in International Law

Detention and disappearance of Egyptian human rights lawyer Ibrahim Metwally Hegazy

Published: 07 November 2017 Author: Stefan Talmon

On 3 July 2013, the Egyptian military removed democratically elected President Mohammed Morsi from power and suspended the constitution. Since the military takeover of government and the assumption of the presidency by Field Marshall Abdel Fattah el-Sisi a year later, Egypt has seen a large-scale crackdown on dissent and the followers of former president Morsi. According to media reports hundreds have been killed, tens of thousands have been detained, and many have been forcibly disappeared.

In response to his own son vanishing in 2013, Egyptian lawyer Ibrahim Metwally Hegazy co-founded the Association of the Families of the Disappeared in Egypt. He also assisted the family of Giulio Regeni, an Italian PhD student who was found tortured and killed in Cairo in February 2016.

On 10 September 2017, Mr. Metwally Hegazy disappeared at Cairo International Airport before boarding a flight to Geneva, where he was to report on enforced disappearances in Egypt at the invitation of the United Nation Human Right’s Council’s Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances. He reappeared two days later before the High State Security Prosecutor being charged with founding and leading an organization that was created illegally, spreading false news, and communicating with foreign entities in order to undermine national security. He has since been detained in the high-security wing of Egypt’s notorious Tora prison. (more…)

The right to freedom of religion for the Baha’i in Iran

Published: 03 November 2017 Author: Stefan Talmon

The Federal Government has been concerned about the situation of the 300,000-member strong religious Baha’i community in Iran for many years. According to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran more than 90 Baha’is are currently in detention in prison in the country. The Federal Government has taken a particularly strong interest in the fate of the seven members of the ad hoc Baha’i leadership committee who were arrested on 5 March and 14 May 2008. After being held for over two years without charge the seven were sentenced on 8 August 2010 to 20 years’ imprisonment each for espionage, propaganda against the government, collusion and collaboration for the purpose of endangering national security and spreading corruption. However, it was widely considered that the real reason for their imprisonment was the fact that they managed the religious and administrative affairs of their community.

On 12 May 2017, the Federal Government Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Aid at the Federal Foreign Office issued the following statement on the detention of leading members of the Baha’i faith in Iran: (more…)

Abolition of the death penalty

Published: 12 October 2017 Author: Stefan Talmon

On 10 October 2017, the World Day against the Death Penalty, the Foreign Minister of Germany together with his colleagues from Austria, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Slovenia and Switzerland, published the following opinion piece:

“Today, on this World Day against the Death Penalty, we reaffirm our commitment to the universal abolition of the death penalty.

On the positive side, we have been witnessing a worldwide trend towards restricting and abolishing the death penalty for decades. Of the 193 UN member states, only 36, or just under 20%, still apply the death penalty. Whereas the death penalty was still the rule in the 1980s, today it is the exception. This cruel form of punishment is now almost banished from Europe – with one exception. It is time for Belarus to also cease executions and free all of Europe from the death penalty – forever.

We note with concern, however, that some countries in the world are seriously discussing the reintroduction of the death penalty and that executions are being resumed in other countries after longstanding moratoriums. This is contrary to the global trend and to some extent contravenes international law. We call on all states to comply with their international obligations and respect the spirit of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which provides for a progressive abolition of the death penalty. (more…)

Death penalty not generally incompatible with ICCPR

Published: 30 September 2017 Author: Stefan Talmon

On 22 September 2017, Germany together with 60 other States co-sponsored a draft resolution on “The question of the death penalty” at the United Nations Human Rights Council. The sixteenth preambular paragraph of the resolution read:

“Strongly deploring the fact that the use of the death penalty leads to violations of the human rights of the persons facing the death penalty and of other affected persons.”

The Russian Federation proposed an amendment providing that

“the use of the death penalty may in some cases lead to violations of the human rights of the persons facing the death penalty […].”

Rejecting the Russian amendment, the German representative stated in the Human Rights Council on 29 September 2017: (more…)