The African Commission’s Analysis on the Merits
157. In this Communication, the African Commission is called upon to determine
whether the arrest, pre-trial detention, trial and sentencing of the Victims by
the Respondent State following their alleged involvement in a bomb attack on
6 October 2004, in the Taba and Noueiba‟ resorts of the Sinai Peninsula which
led to the death of 34 and the injury of 105 Egyptian, Israeli and other
foreigners, violates the victims rights guaranteed under Articles 4, 5, 7(1) (a)
(c) and 26 of the African Charter as alleged by the Complainants. The
summary of the rights allegedly violated by the Respondent State are viz:
The torture of the Victims while in State custody, including electrical shocks,
beatings, hanging from their hands and legs and prolonged sensory
deprivation violates the prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment enshrined in Article 5 of the Charter;
The denial of essential safeguards necessary to give effect to that prohibition,
such as access to counsel, courts and medical personnel, and the use in court
of evidence obtained through torture, themselves amount to a violation of
Article 5 of the Charter;
The character, procedures and conduct of the Office of the State Security
Prosecutor and of the Supreme State Security Emergency Court violate the
Victims‟ rights to due process under Article 7(1) of the Charter and the State‟s
obligations to ensure the independence of the courts under Article 26;
The denial of fair trial rights and the imposition of the death penalty which
would constitute a breach of the right to life, as protected by Article 4 and 5
of the Charter.
158.
The Commission will accordingly proceed to analyze each of the Articles of
the Charter alleged to have been violated by the Respondent State
Alleged Violation of Article 5
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