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The Minister for Trade and Investment (Mr. Mike O'Brien): I congratulate the hon. Member for Southend, West (Mr. Amess) on securing this debate on Maajid Nawaz, a British national detained in Egypt. I welcome the opportunity once again to set out the assistance that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has provided to Maajid Nawaz and the other two British nationals who remain in detention in connection with this case.
On 1 April 2002, Maajid Nawaz, a student at the university of Alexandria, was arrested along with three other British nationals. The men had been arrested under emergency laws and were accused, along with a number of Egyptian nationals, of being involved in the revival of the Islamic Liberation party, also known as Hizb ut-Tahrir. British embassy officials in Cairo immediately sought confirmation of the arrests from the local authorities and sought consular access.
Our consul and vice-consul were allowed to visit Maajid Nawaz and the other detainees on 11 April 2002. Every effort was made to secure information on the judicial process under which the men would be prosecuted. Our ambassador met senior Government officials to seek information. My right hon. Friend Baroness Amos, the then Under-Secretary of State with responsibility for consular matters, met the Egyptian ambassador to London to raise our concerns. Subsequently I made representations on a visit to Egypt and met senior Government representatives there. From April 2002 we pressed at various levels, including at a high level, for the Egyptians to charge or release the men. On 4 August 2002 it was announced that Maajid and the others were to face charges, and that Hassan Rizvi was to be released.
The trial was held in an emergency high state security court. There were a number of delays and adjournments throughout the trial process. In July 2003 the judge adjourned proceedings and said that he would announce the verdict on 25 December 2003. However, on 25 December 2003 the judge announced a further adjournment until 25 March 2004.
I should make it clear that we do not normally interfere with the judicial processes of another country. The courts are an independent body, or ought to be, and adjournments are a judge's decision. However, we have
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sympathy with the deep frustration and disappointment of the men and their families at the delays and adjournments in this case. Ministers and senior embassy officials in Cairo made our concerns clear to the Egyptian authorities and urged that the trial be brought to a conclusion as soon as possible.
My right hon. Friend Baroness Symons wrote to the Egyptian Foreign Minister, Ahmed Maher, in January 2004 to express her concern at the length of time it was taking to conclude the case and to seek some reassurance that a verdict would be given at the next court hearing on 25 March. We also made it clear that there were Members of our Parliament who took a keen interest in the case and were determined to ensure that the concerns of their constituents were brought to the notice of the British Government, and that we did our duty in bringing them to the notice of the Egyptian Government. I congratulate the hon. Gentlemen and others who have made the case so forcefully on behalf of their constituents.
Our ambassador in Cairo listed our concerns with Ahmed Maher and emphasised the importance that we attached to a decision at the next court hearing. My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary also raised our concerns during a telephone conversation with Ahmed Maher in January 2004. On 25 March 2004 the judge delivered his verdict. Maajid Nawaz, Ian Nisbet and Reza Pankhurst were sentenced to five years. That includes time already served. Under the Egyptian legal system we understand that the men are eligible for release in or about December 2005.
I acknowledge the hon. Gentleman's request for the Government to campaign for Maajid Nawaz's release and for my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister to make representations to the Egyptian President. We have considered that. Our view remains that it would be inappropriate for the Government to consider raising concerns that we may have about the verdict until we have a clear understanding of the judge's summation. We need to know the legal and factual basis upon which the men were convicted in order to put a considered argument to the Egyptian authorities.
We understand that the judge has now issued a summation of his verdict, which has been passed to the President for ratification, and that the men are considering their options in consultation with their Egyptian lawyer. One of the issues that it would be helpful to explore at next week's meeting is whether the families plan to appeal to the President, whether it is appropriate for the British Government to make representations on the back of that appeal or whether it is appropriate for the British Government to make representations and for the families to decide separately how they should deal with their legal rights. Those matters need clarification, and I understand that the families are currently taking legal advice, which they should obviously do.
I now want to turn to the allegations of mistreatment and torture. During the first visit by consular officials, we were concerned to learn that Maajid and the other men alleged that they were mistreated and tortured in the initial days of their detention. We take all allegations of torture and mistreatment seriously and raised our
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concerns about the allegations as soon as we learned of them, and we have continued to raise our concerns at a high level within the Egyptian Government. Ministers and senior officials asked for an investigation into the allegations and for the men to be allowed access to an independent medical examination.
In September 2002, the Egyptian prosecutor general told our ambassador in Cairo that he had been asked to conduct an investigation into the allegations. During a court session in October 2002, the judge read out a statement from a forensic medical examiner, which said that there was no evidence apparent on Reza Pankhurst's body to support the allegations that he had been tortured. In November 2002, the Egyptian Foreign Minister informed my noble Friend Baroness Amos that the authorities had concluded that there was no medical evidence to support the allegations. We considered that response to be unsatisfactory. Ministers and officials continue to raise concerns that this issue has still not been fully addressed or satisfactorily investigated.
Throughout the men's detention, we have been active in trying to ensure their welfare. Since their arrest, the men and their relatives have raised concerns about prison conditions. Through representations by Ministers, senior officials and consular staff, and by working with the families, we have succeeded in getting more benefits for the men than would normally be allowed in the Egyptian system, including access to reading material, radio and television. The men can also make phone calls to their relatives during consular visits, which is usually strictly against rules. The men are due to be moved to newly refurbished cells in the near future, and we also achieved significant improvement in the transport conditions from the prison to the courts. We have made regular consular visits to the men, kept in close touch with their families in the UK and in Egypt, and have helped facilitate family visits on a number of occasions.
In conclusion, I would like to reassure the hon. Gentleman and other hon. Members who have constituency interests in the matter that Ministers in London and senior Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials in Cairo have taken a close personal interest in this case and have been actively involved since the men were first detained. The case has received considerable ministerial and senior official attention, and senior Ministers in the Egyptian Government and their officials can be in no doubt about the seriousness with which we regard this case.
Consular staff in Cairo have worked extremely hard to ensure that we have done all that we properly can to assist Mr. Nawaz and the other men since their detention on 1 April 2002. We have raised the case at every possible opportunity and will continue to do so. In London, our consular directorate has tried to maintain close relationships with the families. The meeting on 11 May will involve hon. Members, the families and other representatives, and we hope that it will be an opportunity to discuss how we can move forward given the verdicts.
The matter is difficult because we need to seek the co-operation and assistance of the Egyptian authorities, but we have also made clear our particular concerns about how the matter was dealt with. Our public
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comments have therefore been balanced, and I know that the hon. Gentleman understands that point. We will continue to press the Egyptian authorities for a full and satisfactory response on the allegations of torture and mistreatment. We have done quite a lot for those
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men, which is right in view of the nature of the case. I assure the hon. Gentleman that we will continue to do all that we properly can for Maajid Nawaz and the other two men who have been detained.
Question put and agreed to.
- Adjourned accordingly at twenty-five minutes to Seven o'clock.
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