As part of ongoing activities to strengthen the legal regime against terrorism in Egypt and other MENA countries, the UNODC Terrorism Prevention Branch (UNODC/TPB) organized a regional workshop on challenges and good practices in converting intelligence and classified information into evidence in terrorism criminal cases in prosecutions and in court. The workshop was held in Cairo under the patronage of the Egyptian Minister of Justice from 15 to 17 September 2015.
This last activity organized under Phase I of the project for Egypt was attended by high-level policymakers and criminal justice experts, as well as officials from Egypt, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Officials from Spain and the United States, as well as experts from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), INTERPOL and UNODC/TPB joined the MENA officials, bringing the total number of participants to 43.
The event was opened by H.E. Judge Ahmad Al-Zend, Minister of Justice of Egypt, and Judge Adel Fahmi, Assistant Minister of Justice of Egypt for International Cooperation. In his remarks, Minister Al-Zend highlighted the importance of the cooperation between Egypt and UNODC in exposing the attending Egyptian criminal justice and law enforcement officers to the international, regional and national approaches to countering terrorism based on the universal legal regime against terrorism, while respecting human rights and the rule of law.
During the three-day workshop, national, regional and international approaches to all aspects of the use of intelligence and classified information in terrorism-related cases were presented to the participants. Extremely thorough and in-depth discussions on all agenda topics took place, particularly regarding the involvement and roles of international organizations, such as the United Nations and INTERPOL. Moreover, experiences from the civil law system (Spain) as juxtaposed with the common law system (USA) and their compliance with international standards were highlighted. Furthermore, Lebanese and Tunisian experts presented their cases by focusing on the role of prosecutors and judges in declassification and inclusion of protected or sensitive information in terrorist cases, illustrating practical examples. In addition, important aspects related to human rights and rule of law principles were highlighted by a Human Rights Officer from OHCHR. The participants showed their greatest interest in ensuring compliance with the addressed principles regarding the collection and use of intelligence/information. Also, experts and participants discussed several concrete relevant cases and experiences on the subject matters from Egypt, Lebanon, Spain, Tunisia and the United States of America. Finally, INTERPOL presented its recent efforts on the collection of information related to foreign terrorist fighters through its newly established database and other information sharing systems.