Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to
2025 gvnet.com/torture/Egypt.htm
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CAUTION: The following links
have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Egypt. Some of these links may lead to websites
that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false. No
attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content. HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on this
page and others to see which aspects of Torture by Authorities are of
particular interest to you. You might
be interested in exploring the moral justification for inflicting pain or
inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment in order to obtain critical
information that may save countless lives, or to elicit a confession for a
criminal act, or to punish someone to teach him a lesson outside of the
courtroom. Perhaps your paper might
focus on some of the methods of torture, like fear, extreme temperatures,
starvation, thirst, sleep deprivation, suffocation, or immersion in freezing
water. On the other hand, you might
choose to write about the people acting in an official capacity who
perpetrate such cruelty. There is a
lot to the subject of Torture by Authorities.
Scan other countries as well as this one. Draw comparisons between activity in
adjacent countries and/or regions.
Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper
resources that are available on-line. ***
ARCHIVES *** 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Egypt U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/egypt/
[accessed 18 July
2021] TORTURE AND OTHER
CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT According to
domestic and international human rights organizations, police and prison
guards resorted to torture to extract information from detainees, including
minors. Reported techniques included beatings with fists, whips, rifle butts,
and other objects; prolonged suspension by the limbs from a ceiling or door;
electric shocks; sexual assault; and attacks by dogs. On March 22, Human
Rights Watch issued a report documenting alleged abuses, including torture,
by security forces against 20 minors as young as 12 while under arrest
between 2014 and 2019. Human Rights Watch characterized torture as a
systematic practice in the country. PRISON AND DETENTION
CENTER CONDITIONS Conditions in
prisons and detention centers were harsh and potentially life threatening due
to overcrowding, physical abuse, inadequate medical care, poor
infrastructure, and poor ventilation. No
One Cared He Was A Child - Egyptian Security Forces’ Abuse of Children in
Detention Human Rights Watch
and Belady: An Island for Humanity, 23 March 2020 [accessed 6 April
2020] Torture and
Ill-Treatment Fourteen of the
children whose cases are documented in this report said they were tortured in
pre-trial detention, usually during interrogation. In two additional cases,
one child was verbally threatened into confessing to crimes, and another was
badly beaten by prison guards. One boy said his
interrogators tied him to a chair for three days. Seven children said
security officers shocked them with electricty
during interrogation, including two children who said officers subjected them
to shocks in the face with stun guns, and two who said officers applied
electric shocks to their genitals. A boy whom authorities forcibly
disappeared and tortured at age 16 told a relative that he was worried he
might “never marry or be able to have children” because of what security
officers had done to him during interrogations. Two other children, ages 14 and 17, detained in separate cases, said
after authorities forcibly disappeared them security officials suspended them
from their arms and dislocated their shoulders. The 14-year-old said that
another prisoner who happened to be a doctor was able to re-set his joints in
their prison cell. The 17-year-old said that during one interrogation, an
officer forced his mouth open and spat in it. After a week of being tortured
in detention, he confessed to destroying public property. In other cases,
security officials inflicted torture or cruel, humiliating, and degrading
treatment on children. Two children said security officers denied them blankets or warm clothing for days in unheated cells
or corridors in security facilities during winter. Three children were placed
in solitary confinement, and at least three have been denied any family
visits during years in detention. A security officer forced Hamza H. to
“stand on his toes with sharp nails placed under his [bare] heels” for hours,
after prison officials overheard the boy speaking to another detainee in his
cell, which they had prohibited, a relative said. It was his birthday, “and
he hates his birthday now, he does not want to celebrate it again.” Sharif
S., who was suffering from serious burns at the time of his arrest said that
when he asked police for medical care they “replied by beating me, hard,” and
that when he refused to cooperate with police instructions to help them
arrest another suspect, “the gates of hell were opened,” and officers beat
and shocked him with electricty for four hours. Egypt:
Children face shocking violations including torture and enforced
disappearance Amnesty
International, 20 November 2018 [accessed 21
November 2018] www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/MDE1294282018ENGLISH.pdf [accessed 21
November 2018] These findings
reveal how Egyptian authorities have subjected children to horrific violations
including torture, prolonged solitary confinement and enforced disappearance
for periods of up to seven months, demonstrating an absolutely shameful
disregard for children’s rights. The families of six
children who were subjected to torture, interviewed by Amnesty International
and the Egyptian Front for Human Rights, said that during detention they were
severely beaten, given electric shocks on their genitalia and other parts of
their body or suspended by their limbs. In some cases, the children said they
were tortured in order to “confess” to offenses that they did not commit. Aser Mohamed was
forcibly disappeared in January 2016 at the age of 14, where he was held
incommunicado for 35 days and tortured in order to “confess” to “membership
in a terrorist group” and attacking a hotel, offenses that he says he did not
commit. He is now facing a trial along with adults which could see him
sentenced to jail. Abdallah Boumidan was 12 years old when he was arrested in
December 2017 by the Egyptian military in Arish City in Northern Sinai, then
forcibly disappeared and tortured. He was held incommunicado for seven months
before being charged with “membership of a terrorist group” and transferred
to solitary confinement, where his medical situation severely deteriorated. Egyptian
authorities have also imprisoned children alongside adults in violation of
international human rights law. In some cases, they were also held in
overcrowded cells and denied sufficient food. In at least two cases children
were held in prolonged solitary confinement. Egypt:
An Account of Alleged Torture in Secret Detention Human Rights Watch,
Beirut, 11 October 2018 www.hrw.org/news/2018/10/11/egypt-account-alleged-torture-secret-detention [accessed 13 October
2018] Egyptian-American Held for 4 Months Before Arrest Was
Revealed ARREST, TORTURE, AND
RAPE -
In incommunicado detention, he said, National
Security Agents severely beat him, cutting his chin and bloodying his nose.
They usually stripped him naked during the abuse. They hung him from his arms
for days, dislocating both his shoulders. They repeatedly gave him electric
shocks to the head, tongue, the anus, the testicles, and his groin area. In Smouha, they used wires and in Abbassiya,
they mostly used electric shock devices, which he sometimes saw being
charged. Sometimes, he said, they placed him on a wet sheet to increase the
effect of electric shocks. He said that agents
used a taser on his leg, causing an open wound that
became infected. His leg became swollen and inflamed and the pain and
infection made him faint repeatedly. They operated on the wound without
anesthesia and while an officer was standing over his chest, he said. He said that the
agents raped him on one occasion with a wooden stick. On another occasion,
Hassan said, after he insulted an officer who threatened to arrest his wife,
the officer ordered another man to rape Hassan anally. “When they did this, I
was ready to say [give any confessions] what they wanted,” he said. “The worst part was
electrocution,” he said, breaking into tears. At the end of each session,
they would have to carry him back to his detention cell because he could not
walk, he said. He added the agents tried to “fix” his most visible injuries
on his body before sending him to military prosecutors on May 3. Egypt
uses solitary confinement as 'torture' Samy Magdy,
Associated Press AP, Cairo, 7 May 2018 abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/rights-group-egypt-solitary-confinement-torture-54976673 [accessed 10 May
2018] www.yahoo.com/news/rights-group-egypt-uses-solitary-confinement-torture-230922983.html [accessed 31
December 2018] Egypt is holding
political prisoners in "prolonged and indefinite solitary
confinement" that amounts to "torture," an international
rights group said Monday. "Under
international law, solitary confinement may only be used as a disciplinary
measure of last resort, but the Egyptian authorities are using it as a
horrifying 'extra' punishment for political prisoners," said Najia Bounaim, Amnesty's North
Africa campaigns director. The London-based
group said it has documented 36 cases of prisoners being held in solitary
confinement, including six who have been isolated from the outside world
since 2013. It said the prisoners in solitary confinement remain in their
cells for 22 hours a day. Basing its report
on dozens of interviews with former prisoners and with family members of
current prisoners, the group said abuses range from extended beatings to lack
of food, humiliation and restricted movement for years on end. The prolonged
solitary confinement is usually aimed at extracting confessions and punishing
prisoners for protesting ill-treatment, but some are held in solitary
confinement purely because of their past political activism, Amnesty said. Amnesty
award goes to Egypt's Nadeem Center for torture victims Deutsche Welle DW-WORLD.DE, 25.01.2018 www.dw.com/en/amnesty-award-goes-to-egypts-nadeem-center-for-torture-victims/a-42298019 [accessed 25 January
2018] Amnesty
International's German branch has awarded a human rights prize to Egypt's
Nadeem Center. For the past 20 years, the center has documented torture
carried out by security forces and treated victims at its clinic. The Cairo-based
Nadeem Center has been documenting torture carried out by Egyptian security
forces for the past 20 years. The Egyptian government denies that it uses
torture. The center also
provided victims with medical and psychological care at a specialist clinic
which was the "only one of its kind in the country," Amnesty said. Prosecution
office refers two policemen to court over torture Egypt Today, Cairo,
15 Jan 2018 www.egypttoday.com/Article/1/40216/Prosecution-office-refers-two-policemen-to-court-over-torture [accessed 15 January
2018] South Cairo
Prosecution office referred Monday two police officers to be tried before
urgent criminal court on the charges of torturing a citizen to death inside Mokkatam police station in South of Cairo. The Prosecution
office's decision came after receiving the forensic report which revealed
that the cause of death was an internal bleeding caused by a broken rib.
Unlike what the police claimed, that Afroto’s death
took place due to drugs overdose. Freedom House
Country Report 2018 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/egypt/freedom-world/2018 [accessed 12 May
2020] F3. IS THERE PROTECTION FROM THE ILLEGITIMATE
USE OF PHYSICAL FORCE AND FREEDOM FROM WAR AND INSURGENCIES? Police brutality
and impunity for abuses by security forces were catalysts for the 2011
uprising against Mubarak, but no reforms have since been enacted. Reports of
alleged extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances continued throughout
2017, with NGOs documenting hundreds of cases. The state of emergency
declared by President Sisi in April grants security
forces additional powers of arrest and detention, increasing opportunities
for physical abuse. Prison conditions are very poor; inmates are subject to
torture, overcrowding, and a lack of sanitation and medical care. A 2015
antiterrorism law provided a vague definition for terrorism and granted law
enforcement personnel sweeping powers and immunity while carrying out their
duties. Egyptian
court sentences policemen in rare torture verdict Associated Press AP
Cairo, 25 October 2017 www.timesofisrael.com/egyptian-court-sentences-policemen-in-rare-torture-verdict/ [accessed 27 October
2017] An Egyptian court
has sentenced a policeman to seven years in prison for torturing a worker to
death, a rare decision against a force largely seen as operating with
impunity. The Court of
Cassation sentenced officer Samir Hani on Wednesday, and also handed down
three-year sentences to five other policemen involved in the case. It
rejected appeals and issued what will be a final verdict. The men were
initially convicted last July of beating worker Talaat
el-Rashidi to death in the Luxor police station
after he was arrested in front of a coffee shop for possession of narcotics. El
Nadeem documents 67 torture cases, 87 enforced disappearances in April Daily News Egypt, 9
May 2016 [accessed 10 August
2016] El Nadeem Centre
for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence published its monthly report
documenting Interior Ministry and state civil violations in April. The report stated
that there have been 46 extrajudicial killings, nine deaths inside prisons,
67 cases of torture and mistreatment inside prisons, and 53 incidents of
improper medical treatment inside prisons. Additionally, the
report recorded that there have been 87 enforced disappearances. Only 33
individuals that were reported missing have subsequently been located. There
were 30 cases of violence committed by various state apparatuses. In March, the centre documented 202 deaths, 105 enforced
disappearances, and 39 cases of medical negligence inside detention centres. Rights
groups concerned of investigations into anti-torture judges Nourhan Fahmy,
Daily News, June 3, 2015 www.icfr.info/en/?p=1907 [accessed 11 August
2015] dailynewsegypt.com/2015/06/03/rights-groups-concerned-of-investigations-into-anti-torture-judges/ [accessed 24 July
2017] A number of NGOs
and human rights organisations released a statement
Wednesday criticising the authorities’
interrogation of two judges and the questioning of lawyer Negad
Al-Borai. The interrogations
occurred in light of their submitting a draft law to combat torture. The joint statement
was signed by 18 organisations including: the Cairo
Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS); the Egyptian Initiative for
Personal Rights (EIPR); and El Nadeem Center for the Rehabilitation of
Victims of Violence. The two judges
under investigation, Assem Abd
Al-Gabbar and Hisham Raouf, are accused of contributing to the drafting of an
anti-torture law and their participation in a workshop. 3rd
detainee dies in Matariya police station Daily News Egypt, 28
Feb 2015 news.egypt.com/english/index.php?news=214385&output_type=rss&output_type=rss [accessed 11 August
2015] Moustafa Ibrahim was found
dead inside Matariya police station’s detention
room, with fellow inmates asserting he was tied by a police officer for eight
hours until his death, prosecution findings reported. Ibrahim was
detained on charges of possessing narcotics, state-owned newspaper Al-Ahram
reported, with the newspaper also publishing a graphic picture of the
deceased in the morgue. It was not clear from the picture whether he retained
any signs of torture. A legal source who
is following the case, and who requested anonymity, said that Ibrahim died on
22 February. His death occured after “being
tortured by electric shocks and being tied from the ceiling for eight hours,
which caused an internal hemorrhage”. Ibrahim is the
third prisoner to die inside the controversial Matariya
police station. Two men died last week in the same police station, with the
families of the deceased accusing the police of torture. The two were named
as Emad Ahmed El-Attar and a lawyer named Kareem Hamdy. 2
prisoners allegedly die of torture in Matariya
Police Station Adham Youssef, Daily News
Egypt, 25 February 2015 www.dailynewsegypt.com/2015/02/25/2-prisoners-allegedly-die-torture-matariya-police-station/ [accessed 31 March
2015] Two men died Tuesday
night inside the detention room of the Matariya Police Station, with the
families of the deceased accusing the police of torture. One of the dead
prisoners is Emad Ahmed El-Attar, who was arrested on 26 January during
protests in Matariya. His cousin Ahmed told Daily
News Egypt that El-Attar was severely tortured by police agents inside the
police station. “He was denied any
medical care for a month, and was beaten and thrown inside the bathroom of
the police station,” his cousin said. “Sometimes, his family had to bribe the
guards to smuggle food or medication to him. For the last 15 days, he
witnessed terrible treatment and died.” Egypt: Investigate
Professor’s Allegations of Torture Human Rights Watch,
New York, 3 February 2015 www.hrw.org/news/2015/02/03/egypt-investigate-professor-s-allegations-torture [accessed 29 March
2015] According to Ghoniem and relatives of Shehata,
National Security officers abused and electrocuted Shehata
and his brother for four days in a National Security building in Sheikh Zaid
city, southwest of Cairo, before sending them to prosecutors in the Supreme
State Security division of the Prosecutor General. The prosecutor ordered
them jailed pending investigations into charges that included belonging to a
terrorist group – the Muslim Brotherhood – and possessing weapons. “They wanted to videotape [Shehata] saying dictated confessions...every time he
refused, they electrocuted him again,” Ghoniem
said. “They also tortured his brother As’ad in
front of him to abuse him psychologically.” Human
Rights Watch World Report 2015 - Events of 2014 Human Rights Watch,
29 January 2015 www.hrw.org/world-report/2015/...
or at
www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/wr2015_web.pdf [accessed 18 March
2015] EGYPT TORTURE AND
ILL-TREATMENT
- At least 90 people died in local police stations and security directorates
in the governorates of Cairo and Giza alone in 2014, according to an
investigation by the Egyptian newspaper Al Watan,
which cited statistics from the Justice Ministry’s Forensic Medical
Authority. That number represented a 38 percent increase from the year
before. Detainees also
described severe beatings during arrest, arrival at police stations, and
transfer between prisons. Scores detained in January protests complained of
torture, including electric shocks, to coerce confessions. The Egyptian
Initiative for Personal Rights documented the enforced disappearance and
torture of dozens of civilians in military detention. NGOs call to end
forced disappearances, torture in Ismailia prison Ali Omar, Daily
News, 24 May 2014 www.dailynewsegypt.com/2014/05/24/ngos-call-end-forced-disappearances-torture-ismailia-prison/ [accessed 25 May
2014] Twenty-three to
twenty-five men are locked in a six square metre
cell with a lack of ventilation, light and sanitation, both statements detailed. Prisoners are allowed to go to
the bathroom once a day, for five minutes before sunrise. Detainees are often
subjected to torture, “including the use of electric shocks, burns and other
ill-treatment during interrogations at the military camp.” First hand reports
from former detainees arrested by plainclothes men from their homes or
seemingly at random on the street corroborate the NGO’s accusations. According to the
statements, torture is often used to extract “confessions” from detainees,
who have not been charged or referred
to prosecutors or courts, and have had no access to their lawyers. Dozens of disappeared
civilians face ongoing torture at military prison Amnesty
International, 22 May 2014 [accessed 22 May
2014] TESTIMONIES/CASES --
ONE PRISONER RECENTLY RELEASED FROM AL AZOULY MILITARY PRISON -- “The military
arrested me in January [2014]…and took me on the same day to Al Azouly prison after they beat me in a military camp in my
town for four hours. I was held in Al Azouly prison
for 76 days without seeing a judge or a prosecutor, I was not even allowed to
talk to my family. They put me on the third floor of the prison in solitary
confinement. The authorities there interrogated me six times. They took off
my clothes and gave me electric shocks all over my body during the
investigations, including on my testicles, and beat me with batons and
military shoes. They handcuffed me from behind and hung me on a door for 30
minutes. They always blindfolded me during the investigations. In one
interrogation they burned my beard with a lighter. The investigations were
held in another building inside the camp…the soldiers call it S1 and S8
buildings [which are military intelligence buildings]. I could not see the
investigators because I was blindfolded in all investigations and handcuffed
from behind. They wanted to know information about protests and
demonstrations, they asked about the active members in the university. They
wanted to know who funds protests, who holds weapons and who buys them. They
also asked me about my affiliation and whether I belong to the Muslim
Brotherhood… After 25 days I was
transferred to another cell with another 23 prisoners. Most of the persons in
this cell were from Sinai. One of the prisoners had burns on his body…he
mentioned that they put out cigarettes on his body. We were allowed out of
the cell once a day to the bathroom before sunrise, and for five minutes for
all the 23 persons in the cell. The food was very poor. I was then released
without a prosecutor’s order or investigations …they took me from prison and
put me outside gate 2 of the military camp.” Egypt torture
claims: They electrocuted me, says 15-year-old boy BBC News Middle
East, 28 March 2014 www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-26790676 [accessed 30 March
2014] Ahmed Abdel Fattah,
15, says he spent a month behind bars after being arrested near to an
Islamist protest north of Cairo in late January. He told the BBC
police accused him of being from the Muslim Brotherhood, and electrocuted him
repeatedly. Videos from Egypt
prisons paint bleak picture Al Jazeera, 09 Mar
2014 www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/03/videos-from-egypt-prisons-paint-bleak-picture-2014388433904126.html [accessed 17 March
2014] Videotaped
testimonies of prisoners currently held in Egyptian jails are painting a
picture of arbitrary arrest, torture, forced confessions and cramped prison
cells. The videos –
recorded on mobile phones, smuggled out of prison and obtained by journalists
– were the first to show current detainees giving an account of prison
conditions from within their cells. "They tortured
me in ways I can't describe. They started making me memorise
confessions, they told me, 'You're going to stand before someone and you have
to say what we tell you word for word,'" said one young man who claimed
to be a university student. "They were
questioning me about things I have no idea about, and about people I don’t
know… They said they would bring my mother here and rape her in front of me.
Because of all the torture and the threats they made, I told them I will say
whatever you want," said the prisoner. He said he was
beaten whenever he refrained from answering. Egyptian detainees
complain of police torture Reuters, Al-Akhbar, 11 February 2014 english.al-akhbar.com/node/18588 [accessed 16
February 2014] www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-torture-idUSBREA1A0O220140211 [accessed 31
December 2018] "He told me he
was hanging by his arms from the ceiling and beaten very badly. He was taken
to a room and blindfolded so he could hear the screams of men who were being
tortured," said Hoda Mahmoud, referring to her
detained husband Khaled al-Sayed, adding that some were sexually abused. "They were
electrocuted, blindfolded for 16 hours, and told: 'If you need to go to the
bathroom, go on yourself'," said Heba Mohamed,
wife of detainee Nagy Kamel. Khaled Dawoud, a
liberal activist, quoted one of the detainees saying, "I was
electrocuted in my genitals.” Egypt police
'inflict pain like it's an art' Louisa Loveluck, GlobalPost –
International News, 15 December 2013 [accessed 17 Dec
2013] “My client was
beaten for three continuous days,” says Farouk’s lawyer, Mohamed el Hambouly. “The police are the masters of this. They
inflict pain like an it’s art. First, they used the belt, then electric
shocks, then the grill.” Grilling, a torture
method for which Egypt’s police have won notoriety, involves strapping a
prisoner's hands and feet to wooden planks, then rotating them slowly as they
are beaten. Human rights lawyer blames prosecution
for ‘rampaging’ torture in Egypt Fady Ashraf, 10 December 2013 [accessed 10 Dec
2013] Prominent human
rights lawyer Negad El-Borai
has blamed the general prosecution for the “rampage of torture crimes in
Egypt,” adding that it “investigates such crimes extremely slowly”. “Another problem
with the prosecution is that they should investigate the crime of torture
before investigating the original crime that the tortured defendant is
charged with, which they don’t do. They just write down the torture complaint
and go on with investigating the original case,” El-Borai
said. United Group lawyer Mahmoud Rady said that
prosecution does not allow lawyers to review torture cases most of the time. He added: “Putting
an end to torture requires political will, and a price that the ruling
authority must pay… that price is choosing between security and human rights;
in the long run, choosing human rights will [most] benefit society.” Egyptian mosque
turned into house of torture for Christians after Muslim Brotherhood protest Fox News, 26 March
2013 [accessed 28 March
2013] Islamic hard-liners
stormed a mosque in suburban Cairo, turning it into torture chamber for
Christians who had been demonstrating against the ruling Muslim Brotherhood
in the latest case of violent persecution that experts fear will only get
worse. Ayad said he was beaten
for hours with sticks before being left for dead on a roadside. Amir’s
brother, Ezzat Ayad, said
he received an anonymous phone call at 3 a.m. Saturday, with the caller
saying his brother had been found near death and had been taken to the
ambulance. “He underwent
radiation treatment that proved that he suffered a fracture in the bottom of
his skull, a fracture in his left arm, a bleeding in the right eye, and
birdshot injuries,” Ezzat Ayad
said.. Rights Group
Accuses Police of Using Torture and Violence The Associated Press
AP, January 22, 2013 [accessed 23 January
2013] An Egyptian rights
group on Tuesday accused the country’s police of “acting like a gang,”
torturing detainees and using violence to impose control. The report by the
Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights documented 16 cases of police
violence in which 11 people were killed and 10 were tortured inside police
stations. Three died under torture during the first four months after
President Mohammed Morsi took office on June 30, it said. Two new alleged
torture victims in Alexandria Ahmed Aboul Enein, Daily News Egypt,
12 January 2013 dailynewsegypt.com/2013/01/12/two-new-alleged-torture-victims-in-alexandria/ [accessed 12 January
2013] The officers
allegedly beat and sexually assaulted the men in front of other officers and
prisoners in the presence of the prison warden, who did not attempt to stop
them. Mostafa Mostafa
later attempted suicide, said the lawyers in their memo. Torture was an
endemic problem under former President Hosni Mubarak police force, and the
habit carries on until today. The
death of Khaled Said, considered by many one of the sparks of the 25 January
2011 uprising, was tortured and beaten to death by two police officers in
Alexandria in 2010. Following the All
Saints Church bombing of new year’s eve 2011, police tortured and beat to
death Salafi youth Sayed Belal. After the uprising
and during the transitional period under the rule of the Supreme Council of
the Armed Forces torture became a prominent issue. The many clashes with
military personnel that marked the frequent protests and sit-ins of that
period where often followed by allegations of torture. Conclusions
and recommendations of the Committee against Torture U.N. Convention
against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment -- Doc. CAT/C/CR/29/4
(2002) www1.umn.edu/humanrts/cat/observations/egypt2002.html [accessed 27
February 2013] D. Subjects of
concern 5. The Committee is
concerned about the following: (a) The fact that a
state of emergency has been in force since 1981, hindering the full
consolidation of the rule of law in Egypt; (b) The many
consistent reports received concerning the persistence of the phenomenon of
torture and ill-treatment of detainees by law enforcement officials, and the
absence of measures to ensure effective protection and prompt and impartial
investigations. Many of these reports relate to numerous cases of deaths in
custody; (c) The Committee
expresses particular concern at the widespread evidence of torture and
ill-treatment in administrative premises under the control of the State
Security Investigation Department, the infliction of which is reported to be
facilitated by the lack of any mandatory inspection by an independent body of
such premises; (d) The many reports
of abuse of under-age detainees, especially sexual harassment of girls,
committed by law enforcement officials, the lack of monitoring machinery to
investigate such abuse and prosecute those responsible, and the fact that
minors kept in places of detention have contact with adult detainees; (e) The reports
received concerning ill-treatment inflicted on men because of their real or
alleged homosexuality, apparently encouraged by the lack of adequate clarity
in the penal legislation; (f) The continued
use of administrative detention in Egypt; (g) The fact that
victims of torture and ill-treatment have no direct access to the courts to
lodge complaints against law enforcement officials; (h) The excessive
length of many of the proceedings initiated in cases of torture and
ill-treatment, and the fact that many court decisions to release detainees
are not enforced in practice; (i)
The legal and practical restrictions on the activities of non-governmental
organizations engaged in human rights work; (j) The significant
disparities in compensation granted to the victims of torture and
ill-treatment. Work on Him Until
He Confesses - Impunity for Torture in Egypt Human Rights Watch,
31 January 2011 www.hrw.org/node/95968/section/2 [accessed 24 January
2013] SUMMARY - Throughout June
and July 2010 hundreds of Egyptians took to the streets in a rare wave of
protests to voice their anger at the police, whom witnesses accused of
publicly beating to death Khaled Said, a 28-year-old from Alexandria. Some of
these protests were loud and angry, with demonstrators demanding a full
investigation into Said's death on June 6, and the prosecution of all those
they held responsible, including the interior minister. In one particular
event, hundreds of mourners dressed in black lined the Alexandrian coast in
Said's memory, staring silently out to sea. The Khaled Said
case-including gruesome pictures of Said's battered body that soon appeared
on social networking websites-shook and outraged many in Egypt, where an
emergency law grants wide powers to police and security force. Some citizens
could identify with Said as victims of police brutality, while many young
people could understand the experience of being randomly accosted by police
in an internet café – public internet cafés are subject to surveillance and
require a national ID to enter. An initial attempt by authorities to cover up
police culpability only fueled public anger. According to
Egyptian lawyers and domestic and international human rights groups, which
have extensively documented the practice of torture in Egypt, law enforcement
officials have used torture and ill-treatment on a widespread, deliberate,
and systematic basis over the past two decades to glean confessions and
information, or to punish detainees. The United Nations Committee Against
Torture has confirmed the systematic nature of torture in Egypt. Criminal Investigations
officers and State Security Investigations (SSI) officers, under the
authority of the minister of interior, are most often responsible for such
abuse. This includes beatings, electric shocks, suspension in painful
positions, forced standing for long periods, water-boarding, as well as rape
and threatening to rape victims and their family. Since 2004, the ombudsman
office of the quasi-official National Council for Human Rights (NCHR) has
sent the Ministry of Interior and Office of the Public Prosecutor (niyaba in Arabic)-which is responsible for investigating
and prosecuting crime-over 50 complaints on torture and deaths in custody. Impunity for
Torture Fuels Days of Rage Human Rights Watch,
Cairo, January 31, 2011 www.hrw.org/news/2011/01/31/egypt-impunity-torture-fuels-days-rage [accessed 12 January
2013] They took me to Imbaba police station and put me in a room by myself. Two
officers came in and told me to confess. I asked, "What to?" They
answered, "Confess to the theft." The head of the Criminal
Investigations unit said, "Work on him until he confesses." They
handcuffed my hands in front of me and hung me from the door for more than
two hours. They had whips and hit me on the legs, on the bottom of my feet,
and on my back. When they took me down, they brought a black electric device
and applied electro-shocks four or five times to my arms until they started
smoking. All of this time they kept saying, "You have to confess."
The next morning they beat me again and whipped me with the cable on my back
and on my shoulders. I fainted after three hours of the beating. AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL From an old article -- URL not available Article was published
sometime prior to 2015 TORTURE AND OTHER
ILL-TREATMENT No legal or policy
reforms were implemented to eradicate torture under either the SCAF or
President Morsi’s administration. The People’s Assembly discussed harsher penalties
for torture but did not introduce them before its dissolution. Torture and
other ill-treatment continued and security forces acted with impunity. One
NGO recorded 88 cases of torture or other ill-treatment by police during
President Morsi’s first 100 days in power. Protesters arrested by riot police
or the military were subjected to severe beatings and electric shocks in
custody, including in Tora Prison, south of Cairo, where detainees also
suffered overcrowding, inadequate clothing and lack of medical care. Some
male protesters said they were abducted and taken to undisclosed locations,
where they were given electric shocks and sexually abused to make them give
information on their involvement in protests. George Ramzi Nakhla was arrested in
Cairo on 6 February. He said riot police tied his arms and legs to the back
of an armoured vehicle and slowly dragged him along
the road while others beat him with batons. He was beaten again at the
Ministry of Interior and given electric shocks. He received no medical
treatment for a broken arm and was forced to squat with 13 other men for
several hours. At Tora Prison, he was beaten with electric cables and
verbally abused. Following a three-day hunger strike, he was released on 25
March. Abdel Haleem Hnesh was arrested by military forces on 4 May at a
protest in Abbaseya, Cairo. He said troops severely
beat him with 2m-long sticks and electric batons, and then took him with some
40 others to military area S28 in Cairo. He was presented to military
prosecutors, and then transferred to Tora Prison where he was beaten on
arrival with hoses and sticks. He was released five days later EXCESSIVE USE OF
FORCE Protests in early
2012 were mainly against military rule. Following President Morsi’s election,
demonstrations were held by his supporters and opponents. Security forces
were largely absent, especially during large Tahrir Square protests, but in some instances they
clashed with protesters. No reform of the police was initiated and the
authorities employed tactics reminiscent of the Mubarak era, with security
forces using excessive force against protesters. Riot police used excessive
and unnecessary force, including firearms and US-made tear gas. Security forces
used lethal force without prior warning to disperse protesters, killing 16
protesters between 2 and 6 February in Cairo and Suez. The protests were in
reaction to the killing of some 70 Al-Ahly football
supporters by men in plain clothes during a match in Port Said, witnessed by
security forces that did not prevent the violence. Between 28 April
and 4 May, at least 12 people were killed by men in plain clothes during a
sit-in in Abbaseya Square, Cairo, in protest at the
presidential election process. Security forces did not intervene, suggesting
that the men acted at the army’s command or with their acquiescence. On 20 November,
teenage protester Gaber Salah Gaber was reportedly shot dead by security
forces near the Ministry of the Interior in Cairo. Search … AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL For current
articles:: Search Amnesty
International Website www.amnesty.org/en/search/?q=egypt+torture&ref=&year=&lang=en&adv=1&sort=relevance [accessed 31 December
2018] Scroll Down ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Human
Rights Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61687.htm [accessed 24 January
2013] 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61687.htm [accessed 3 July
2019] TORTURE
AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT – Article 42 of
the constitution prohibits the infliction of "physical or moral
harm" upon persons who have been arrested or detained; however, torture
and abuse of prisoners and detainees by police, security personnel, and
prison guards remained common and persistent. According to the UN Committee
Against Torture, a systematic pattern of torture by the security forces
existed. Police torture resulted in deaths during the year (see section
1.a.). Principal methods
of torture reportedly employed by the police and the SSIS included stripping
and blindfolding victims; suspending victims from a ceiling or doorframe with
feet just touching the floor; beating victims with fists, whips, metal rods,
or other objects; using electrical shocks; and dousing victims with cold water.
Victims frequently reported being subjected to threats and forced to sign
blank papers for use against themselves or their families should they in the
future complain about the torture. Some victims, including male and female
detainees and children, reported sexual assaults or threats of rape against
themselves or family members. While the law requires security authorities to
keep written records of detentions, human rights groups reported that the
lack of such records often effectively blocked investigations. On January 17, the
Cairo Criminal Court sentenced Ahmed Saleh Darwish,
of Cairo's Bab Al-Shareya police station, to five
years in prison for torturing to death suspect Mohammad El-Husseiny Imam in 2001. According to a forensic report,
Imam had died from electric shocks. Egypt's highest court, the Court of
Cassation, had overturned an initial conviction of Darwish
in May 2003 and ordered a retrial in September 2004. On April 6, EOHR
reported that the Nagada misdemeanors court, under
article 129 of the penal code, sentenced Nouh Taha Ibrahim Muqlid, a police
officer in charge of the Nagada police station's
investigation unit, to one week's imprisonment for cruelty against detainee
Mohammad Halaby Mohammad in April 2004. On May 10, the
Cairo Criminal Court sentenced police officer Mohamed Mubarak Ali and
assistant officers Zaghloul Hamed
Higab and Ahmed Ibrahim Madany--all
based at the Sayyeda Zeinab
police station--to three years' imprisonment for intentional assault against
Mahmoud Gabar Mohamed which led to his death in
2003. Originally charged under article 126 of the penal code with torturing a
suspect to extract a confession, the defendants were convicted of deliberate
fatal assault, receiving the minimum sentence under article 236 "for
reasons of clemency." Numerous cases of
torture were documented. According to EOHR, there were 34 cases of torture in
police stations reported during the year. In late January, Mohammed El-Sayed
Salem reportedly suffered a fractured spine and was left unconscious and paralyzed
after being repeatedly kicked while handcuffed at a police station in Zagazig, according to EOHR. Although a court ruled that
Salem should be freed on bail, he was detained for three more days. He was
finally freed and taken to a local hospital on January 27. On April 18,
according to reports given by family members to EOHR, Ahmed Mahmoud Salem,
who had been detained at Kafr Saqr
police station in Sharqiya governorate, died after
being beaten, sexually assaulted, and tortured with electric shocks. EOHR
urged the public prosecutor and the interior ministry to investigate. On June 23, EOHR
submitted a formal complaint calling for an investigation into the case of
Abdel Gawad El-Aaw, who
was arrested on June 15 by Waraq police station
officers for possession of drugs and weapons. Family members who had talked
to El-Aaw in detention told EOHR that he had
suffered beatings, including to "sensitive parts" of his body, at
the hands of four police officials. According to an
EOHR report on June 23, the NCHR (which includes a representative from EOHR)
had received 74 complaints of torture and officially forwarded them to the
minister of interior. The June 23 EOHR report noted that the ministry had not
responded to any of the complaints. In January 2004,
the public prosecutor indicted police major Yasser Ibrahim El-Akkad, head of
the criminal investigations unit at Haram Police Station in metropolitan
Cairo, for torturing actress Habiba while
investigating the 1999 killing of her husband. The case against El-Akkad, who
claimed that Habiba willingly confessed, remained
ongoing at year's end. In March, six
police officers were convicted of torturing to death Ahmed Khalil Ibrahim in
2002, and each was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment; the sentences were
reduced to 7 years by an appeals court. In 2004, the Alexandria Criminal
Court had twice postponed the case, before proceedings resumed in March. The
Association for Human Rights Legal Aid (AHRLA) filed a civil suit on behalf
of Ibrahim's family, seeking $1.6 million (LE 10 million) in compensation. On June 23, EOHR
reported it had documented 292 torture cases between 1993 and 2004, and 120
cases in which the victim concerned died as a result of suspected torture or
mistreatment. In 2004 EOHR monitored 42 cases of torture and 23 deaths. As of
June 23, EOHR reported it had monitored 27 cases of torture and 5 deaths
during the year. Freedom House
Country Report - Political Rights: 6 Civil Liberties: 5 Status: Not Free 2009 Edition www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2009/egypt [accessed 24 January
2013] LONG URL
ç 2009 Country Reports begin on Page 21 [accessed 12 May
2020] The Egyptian
Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) has reported that as many as 16,000
people are detained without charge for security-related offenses, and
thousands have been convicted and are serving sentences. Conditions in Egyptian
prisons are very poor; prisoners are subject to torture, overcrowding, abuse,
and a lack of sanitation, hygiene, and medical care. U.S.
Library of Congress - Country Study 1991 Library of Congress
Call Number DT46 .E32 1991 www.loc.gov/collections/country-studies/?q=DT46+.E32+ [accessed 24 July
2017] CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
- THE PENAL SYSTEM
– According to the 1988 report of the human rights organization Amnesty
International, there were many allegations of torture and poor-treatment of
detainees, particularly in parts of the Tora Prison complex. Torture was
apparently inflicted to obtain confessions in 1987 after a series of
assassination attempts against high officials. Egypt has refused to allow
representatives from groups such as the Arab Human Rights Organization and
the International Red Cross to inspect the country's prisons and meet with
prisoners. Members of the People's Assembly who represented opposition
parties were also refused access to the prisons. A report by the Egyptian
Organization for Human Rights in early 1990 claimed that there was a marked
increase in the use of torture in 1989, not only against members of
subversive organizations but also against ordinary citizens with no political
affiliations. Muhammad Abd al Halim Musa replaced Badr as minister of interior in January 1990. Badr had long been criticized for harsh repression of
Islamic extremists and violations of civil liberties. Egyptian human rights
activists hoped that his successor would adopt more moderate policies and
improve the treatment of prisoners. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT
ARTICLES. Cite this
webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, "Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance
& Other Ill Treatment in the early years of the 21st Century- Egypt",
http://gvnet.com/torture/Egypt.htm, [accessed <date>] |
