Cairo, 3/11/2019
ECRF condemns subjecting Malak Al-Kashif to forced anal examination and sexual harassment by employees of the Ministry of Health, and hold the Ministry of Interior fully responsible for the physical and psychological integrity of Malak and ensuring avoiding subjecting her to any practices or actions that would jeopardize her human and physical dignity.
ECRF documented Malak’s testimony that she had been subjected to forced anal examination and sexual harassment in one of the government hospitals, which is a form of inhumane and degrading treatment that even accounts for torture, and stated that the Egyptian authorities must stop those humiliating practices immediately and release Malak Al-Kashif immediately and unconditionally, as she is a prisoner of conscience who should enjoy her right to express her opinion while not confined to prisons and suffering from violating the sanctity and dignity of her body.
Malak Al-Kashif is a transgender woman who suffers from gender dysphoria disorder and is going through advanced stages of the process of gender reassignment treatment for which all her medical reports prove. Such reports were issued by Al Hussein University Hospital, and were in her possession when she was arrested. Although her gender is classified as “male” in official documentation – which reveals the suffering of transgenders in Egypt – she must be treated as female, held in the proper facilities of detention as a female, without exposing her to sexual harassment and cruel humiliating procedures that put her to physical and emotional abuse.
ECRF considers subjecting Malak to those examinations a flagrant violation of privacy and human dignity, a pattern of discrimination and violence against sexual minority groups in Egypt, as well as a path of cruel and inhumane treatment that amounts to torture.
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in 2009, stated that forced anal examinations carried out by the Egyptian authorities, had no medical value in determining whether a person had engaged in any homosexual practices, and that they were in violation of international human rights law and contravened the prohibition on torture under the 1984 Convention against Torture.
The Committee against Torture also recommended – in its 2002 report – that Egypt had to take the necessary steps to end all forms of degrading treatment during physical examinations.
Also, the High Commissioner for Human Rights has recommended on the prohibition of coercive medical procedures imposed by some countries on transgenders, as well as guaranteeing their right to obtain identity papers reflecting their self-defined gender identity.
Malak was visiting a friend on March 5th, 2019, and at dawn on March 6th, she received a phone call from her mother telling her that she was in a state of severe exhaustion and asked her to come home, so she rushed home to find out that it was an “ambush” prepared by police officers who had forced her mother to make the call, then she was arrested.
She remained disappeared and both her location and conditions of detention remained undisclosed until she was brought before the State Security Prosecution on March 7th.
She was interrogated under case no. 1739 State Security, with charges of joining a terrorist group, according to article 12 of the Anti-Terrorism Act 2015, which exposes her to severe penalties up to maximum imprisonment, and charges of using her Facebook account to commit a crime punishable by law according to Article 27 of the ITC Act of 2018, which could result in an additional sentence of up to two years’ imprisonment and a fine of not less than LE100,000, after she had expressed her opinions online on her personal Facebook account about the train station accident in Egypt, which killed dozens of citizens.
ECRF warns of the vicious attack on Egyptian citizens as a result of their expression of their views, and the use of the arsenal of very notorious laws and legislations, in a way that undermines the essence of the rights and inherent freedoms of Egyptian citizens under international human rights law, as well as the Egyptian Constitution.
ECRF holds the Ministry of the Interior directly responsible for Malak’s physical integrity and ensuring avoiding her exposure to any acts or actions that would jeopardize her human dignity, as well as ensuring the provision of conditions of detention that are appropriate to her health state.
ECRF reiterates Egypt’s international and constitutional obligations regarding torture and other inhumane treatment, in accordance with article 2 and article 16 of the 1984 Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Article VII of the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as Articles 51, 52, 55 and 60 of the Egyptian Constitution of 2014.
ECRF also stresses on Egypt’s obligations to ensuring that discrimination is prohibited on any basis, and that the necessary measures are taken to eliminate discrimination, especially against sexual minorities, in accordance with article 53 of the Egyptian Constitution.
Therefore, ECRF demands the Egyptian authorities to immediately cease such degrading practices against Malak and other transgenders, release Malak Al-Kashif immediately and unconditionally and to drop all charges against her.