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01-02-2005, 11:29 PM
CONJUGAL VISITS MAY not be a new issue, but they’re once again making headlines. This time around, though, there’s a renewed sense of hope that a conclusion might just be within reach given the rising public awareness of human rights and the civil society movement.
This glimmer of hope follows the Ministry of Interior’s decision to take down the iron fence that stood between prisoners and their visitors. Although conjugal visits covertly occurred in Egyptian prisons until the early 1990s, they have never been sanctioned by official policy. It is reported that many high profile prisoners were allowed conjugal visits; some of them, including pyramid scheme chieftain Ahmed El-Rayyan and Islamist radical Omar Abd El-Rahman, even fathered children while in prison.
Conjugal visits were given religious clearance two years ago. In the midst of controversy over the issue, former Mufti Nasr Farid Wasel declared that conjugal visits were legitimate under Shariah. He explained that marital conjugal relations were essential in preventing psychological distress and helped prisoners maintain normal family bonds so they were not completely alienated from society.
Wasel added that incarceration was a personal punishment that should only be borne by the prisoner. By denying conjugal visits, the spouse is subjected to unjust punishment, “especially since punishment could lead to his or her deviation into sin.” He urged the authorities to undertake the implementation of conjugal visits, stressing that marital relations should not be regarded as a source of entertainment but rather as a duty akin to praying.
Current Mufti Ali Gomaa has followed suit, stating that there is no punishment under Islamic law that denies marital conjugal rights.
Some religious scholars beg to differ: Souad Saleh, dean of Islamic studies at Al-Azhar University, believes that permitting conjugal visits helps take the bite out of the severity of incarceration and makes imprisonment less effective as a preventative measure against crime.
Fawzia Abd El-Sattar, professor of law and head of the legal committee of the National Council for Women, has stated that by law the prisoner is condemned to be punished by incarceration, but not by the denial of any other rights.
El-Sattar refers to the United Nation’s Basic Principles for the Treatment of Prisoners, article 5 of which states, “Except for those limitations that are demonstrably necessitated by the fact of incarceration, all prisoners shall retain the human rights and fundamental freedoms set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”
In a psychological assessment, Cairo University sociology professor Samia Khedr emphasizes the vital importance of conjugal visits. She explains that in most cases, prisoners are incapable of reigning in their sexual instincts without suffering negative psychological repercussions. The noted psychologist Lotfy El-Sherbini stresses that conjugal visits are essential in maintaining psychological balance, especially when compounded by the impact of imprisonment and isolation.
In what may be the pivotal issue, there is concern that the denial of marital sexual gratification has led to a host of problems. Unable to withstand the deprivation, prisoners seek relief via other outlets. They release pent-up sexual energy through often destructive behavior, including relationships with others in the prison system, rape and other acts of violence.
When it comes to implementation, a number of serious problems arise. First and foremost are logistics. Should there be a special area in prisons designated for this purpose? Several Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia and Tunisia, already have such policies in place, although women are reluctant to use them because of traditional sensitivities that have stigmatized the visits.
Here at home, Gen. Fouad Allam, former assistant to the minister of interior, objects that allowing conjugal visits on prison premises is beyond the state’s capacity. In light of budgetary constraints, priority should be given to building new prisons to help relieve the overcrowded system. In the meantime, Allam says home visits within necessary security restrictions are a more feasible option.
Dr. Nabil Louka Bebawi, the prominent physician, retorts that budget limitations shouldn’t be a barrier. He personally offered to launch a fund-raising campaign to collect LE 150,000 to finance the construction of rooms at several prisons for conjugal visits.
Inevitably, the dialogue draws attention to the state of the nation’s prisons. Allam has admitted that prisons are in need of a revolutionary redesign: “With the current state of prisons, whether guilty or not, by the time a prisoner is released, he returns to society 100 percent a criminal.”
So much for an institution designed as much for rehabilitation as for punishment.
The distinguished lawyer Dr. Ragaui Atteya is among the many who calls the nation’s appalling prison conditions “inhumane.” He believes the debate should be focused on this basic premise, because “discussing conjugal visits is a deflection from reality. Other more basic priorities need to be dealt with first.”
Then there’s the matter of who should be entitled to conjugal visits. Should all prisoners be entitled? Or should it be a reward for good behavior? Warning against possible abuse, one prominent human rights activist has stressed that there must be a clear system governing the visits “so [they don’t] turn into some kind of joke on the prisoners’ part or an instrument of psychological pressure by the authorities.”
Several cases submitted by prisoners requesting conjugal visits are already being reviewed by the courts, which should pressure the Ministry of Interior to declare its official position sooner rather than later. et
Egypt Today "The Magazine Of Egypt" ©2004 IBA-media
Deb
This glimmer of hope follows the Ministry of Interior’s decision to take down the iron fence that stood between prisoners and their visitors. Although conjugal visits covertly occurred in Egyptian prisons until the early 1990s, they have never been sanctioned by official policy. It is reported that many high profile prisoners were allowed conjugal visits; some of them, including pyramid scheme chieftain Ahmed El-Rayyan and Islamist radical Omar Abd El-Rahman, even fathered children while in prison.
Conjugal visits were given religious clearance two years ago. In the midst of controversy over the issue, former Mufti Nasr Farid Wasel declared that conjugal visits were legitimate under Shariah. He explained that marital conjugal relations were essential in preventing psychological distress and helped prisoners maintain normal family bonds so they were not completely alienated from society.
Wasel added that incarceration was a personal punishment that should only be borne by the prisoner. By denying conjugal visits, the spouse is subjected to unjust punishment, “especially since punishment could lead to his or her deviation into sin.” He urged the authorities to undertake the implementation of conjugal visits, stressing that marital relations should not be regarded as a source of entertainment but rather as a duty akin to praying.
Current Mufti Ali Gomaa has followed suit, stating that there is no punishment under Islamic law that denies marital conjugal rights.
Some religious scholars beg to differ: Souad Saleh, dean of Islamic studies at Al-Azhar University, believes that permitting conjugal visits helps take the bite out of the severity of incarceration and makes imprisonment less effective as a preventative measure against crime.
Fawzia Abd El-Sattar, professor of law and head of the legal committee of the National Council for Women, has stated that by law the prisoner is condemned to be punished by incarceration, but not by the denial of any other rights.
El-Sattar refers to the United Nation’s Basic Principles for the Treatment of Prisoners, article 5 of which states, “Except for those limitations that are demonstrably necessitated by the fact of incarceration, all prisoners shall retain the human rights and fundamental freedoms set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”
In a psychological assessment, Cairo University sociology professor Samia Khedr emphasizes the vital importance of conjugal visits. She explains that in most cases, prisoners are incapable of reigning in their sexual instincts without suffering negative psychological repercussions. The noted psychologist Lotfy El-Sherbini stresses that conjugal visits are essential in maintaining psychological balance, especially when compounded by the impact of imprisonment and isolation.
In what may be the pivotal issue, there is concern that the denial of marital sexual gratification has led to a host of problems. Unable to withstand the deprivation, prisoners seek relief via other outlets. They release pent-up sexual energy through often destructive behavior, including relationships with others in the prison system, rape and other acts of violence.
When it comes to implementation, a number of serious problems arise. First and foremost are logistics. Should there be a special area in prisons designated for this purpose? Several Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia and Tunisia, already have such policies in place, although women are reluctant to use them because of traditional sensitivities that have stigmatized the visits.
Here at home, Gen. Fouad Allam, former assistant to the minister of interior, objects that allowing conjugal visits on prison premises is beyond the state’s capacity. In light of budgetary constraints, priority should be given to building new prisons to help relieve the overcrowded system. In the meantime, Allam says home visits within necessary security restrictions are a more feasible option.
Dr. Nabil Louka Bebawi, the prominent physician, retorts that budget limitations shouldn’t be a barrier. He personally offered to launch a fund-raising campaign to collect LE 150,000 to finance the construction of rooms at several prisons for conjugal visits.
Inevitably, the dialogue draws attention to the state of the nation’s prisons. Allam has admitted that prisons are in need of a revolutionary redesign: “With the current state of prisons, whether guilty or not, by the time a prisoner is released, he returns to society 100 percent a criminal.”
So much for an institution designed as much for rehabilitation as for punishment.
The distinguished lawyer Dr. Ragaui Atteya is among the many who calls the nation’s appalling prison conditions “inhumane.” He believes the debate should be focused on this basic premise, because “discussing conjugal visits is a deflection from reality. Other more basic priorities need to be dealt with first.”
Then there’s the matter of who should be entitled to conjugal visits. Should all prisoners be entitled? Or should it be a reward for good behavior? Warning against possible abuse, one prominent human rights activist has stressed that there must be a clear system governing the visits “so [they don’t] turn into some kind of joke on the prisoners’ part or an instrument of psychological pressure by the authorities.”
Several cases submitted by prisoners requesting conjugal visits are already being reviewed by the courts, which should pressure the Ministry of Interior to declare its official position sooner rather than later. et
Egypt Today "The Magazine Of Egypt" ©2004 IBA-media
Deb