Interior Minister Gen. Mansour al-Eissawi met with Bahey eldin Hassan, the director of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS), in the minister’s office yesterday afternoon. Deputy Minister Gen. Ibrahim Hamad was also present during the meeting, which lasted more than one hour.
The meeting was held upon a request by CIHRS to become acquainted with al-Eissawi’s understanding of the role of the Interior Ministry after the January 25 revolution, particularly regarding the dissolution of the State Security apparatus and a thorough examination of the policies and directives followed by the ministry before and after January 25. Hassan expressed his belief that the criminal investigations must look into crimes committed before January 25 and suggested to Gen. al-Eissawi that the ministry conduct an internal investigation as well, in tandem with the criminal investigation. He also suggested for a political investigation to be carried out by an independent body. Hassan also proposed the establishment of permanent institutional channels of dialogue between human rights organizations and the minister’s office, as well as horizontal communication channels that do not involve the minister’s office with district security offices in the provinces and police stations.
Gen. al-Eissawi welcomed this suggestion and also proposed a meeting with human rights groups. Hassan said that he left the meeting with a good impression of Gen. al-Eissawi’s outlook, particularly regarding his clear and critical stance toward the policies and attitudes of the ministry in the previous period and his interest in establishing an institutional relationship with human rights organizations. Hassan said that in the coming days, he would present a memo to the minister containing CIHRS proposals for security reform, as well as the center’s thoughts on the institutional relationship with human rights groups.
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