Regardless of the justifications and the considerationsthat may be invoked for continuing
the application ofthis Law as being considreed an approriate legal mechanism
formaintaningthe social peace and tranquility, however, the Centersdeemsita breach of the
principle of the separation of powers, as well as a vioaltionof the principle of criminal
legality, particularly the legal maxims that read"The accused is innocent until proven
guilty, the lega principle ", “ There is no crime and no punishment without a provision in
the law” ", and “the inadmissibility of the prosecution of a person for the same offense
more than once”.
Paragraph (5):
No effective administrative procedures have been taken by the concerned authorities to
investigate allegations of torture thougha neutral and autonomous bodies. In this cottection,
the Center stresses the need to end the phenomenon of not trying the perpetrators of torture
under article 208 of the Penal Code, and stop considering these acts by the law
enforcement authoritie a mere disciplinary infractions that doe not require the application
of this article. Also the judicial prosecution of the perosns who work in the public security
organ under Article 37 of the Public Security Law of 1965 is insufficient, also the
characterization of the crime of torture as harm, in effect, indicates the existance of an
enviroment that is condusive to the occurance of impunity for such crimes.
The registed total number of the crimes of torture and ill-treatment casesfilled against the
PSD personnel are (140) case in 2014. Noting that four officers are currently on trial for
the death of a detainee (nm) under Article (208);and the case was sent back from the civil
courts to the Police Court in 2013 and is still under consideration. This is compared to
(9392) case of torture. Wehreas the case of ill-treatment committed against the inmates of
the reform and rehabilitation centers in 2014 reached 61 case, lead to the conviction of 31
persons, while blocked the trial of 30 others, compared with 36 cases in 2013 ; where two
cases amog those committed in 2013 were referred to the police court, and (9) cases for
trial before the commander of the unit. It was decided to prevent the trial in (18)
cases.While (7) cases are still pending; therefore the Center calls for the need to expedite
the amendment of Article 208 of the Penal Code; to be fully in line with the provisions of
the CAT of 1984.
In the same context, the National Center for Human Rightsobserved during 2014, an
increase in the number of complaints and allegations of torture against the Departments of
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Of which (49) cases were referred to the contingent commander, (60) cases that ban the conviction of the
defendants, while (24) cases are under consideration, and (6) cases were filed, and only one case was
referred to the Police Court.
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