Cairo: 7 November, 2018

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) has launched a report entitled”The road to prison is paved with flawed investigations… “, which addresses the increasing and excessive use of investigations as a basis of pretrial detention and prison sentences handed down in many cases of political nature in Egypt. Despite the fact that some of them are fabricated and others seem unreasonable, and also without scrutinizing or inspecting their veracity and seriousness by the prosecution or the judiciary.

The report released by ANHRI deals with the definition of investigations, who conducts them, and gives examples of investigations that seem illogical, whether in their duration or the contradictions and discrepancies they include. In addition to that, the paper provides examples of some political cases in which rulings of conviction have been handed down on the basis of the attached investigations, without having evidence or exerting any serious effort to verify the validity of such investigations, which have become a justification for imprisonment and deprivation of liberty for many citizens and prisoners of conscience.

ANHRI said, “It is necessary to train cadres of the Ministry of Interior on how to genuinely and seriously conduct investigations, hear witnesses, and not to depend on secret sources. They also have to check the memorandums attached with the case papers and give themselves sufficient time to conduct the necessary investigations and inquiries. Also, the Public Prosecution and the judiciary ought to thoroughly check and examine the attached investigations, and to comply with the principles established by the Court of Cassation; not to rely on the investigations as a proof and verify their source and the validity of the indictment before handing down their convictions. This is in addition to considering the possibility of punishing the investigating officer who is proved to lie and fabricate the investigations especially when such fabricated investigations lead to the deprivation of liberty of innocent citizens.

You can check the report through the following link:

The road to prison is paved with flawed investigations