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Press Release, 30-9-2003
The Association for Human Rights Legal Aid (AHRLA) condemns the continuation of the torture series played by the Egyptian police officers in which they continually torture the Egyptian citizens. During the last few days AHRLA received several complaints reporting about three separate tragedies resulted in three deaths and one injured, who is being now detained administratively. The victims’ families reported about the physical torture that their relatives had been through and the degrading treatment they received, which reached the extent of the policemen forced the families to bury the victims under strict preservation. Those policemen are always ready to trample what had left from the citizens’ sense of dignity. Cairo, 14th September 2003, Mohammad Abdel Qader (31 years) and Sameh Abdel Qader (27 years) were summoned to Hadayeq AlQobba police station. They were detained in the State Security unit adjoined to the police station till 21st September 2003. During this period, their family could see Mohammad for few minutes. They saw clearly the wounds and injuries in his face and skinny body. He also told them about his being beaten and electrically shocked, adding that his brother is exposed to the same kinds of torture too. Later on 21st September, in the morning, the family received a phone call from the police station in ordering them to go to the police station to receive their sons. Reaching the police station, they were Mohammad is in the hospital, they went to the hospital where they knew from the medical team that Mohammad died out of being beaten harshly, and that his dead body was moved to Zainhom morgue to be examined by the forensic medicine. After a lot of suffering the family could see their son’s dead body, they discovered that all his body was blue, there is a break in his skull and the brutality and heartlessness were obvious in his taken off nails. The family was forced out of the morgue. Out of being intimidated and terrified, the father was forced to file a death certificate for his dead son from Zainhom Health Office, and buried the body in Zainhom cemetery under the preservations of policemen. Moreover, the State Security officer called Ahmed Amer clarified to the family that their living son is taken as a hostage, to guarantee that they would not report about the torture and the death of the other son. As soon as AHRLA knew, the lawyers moved to provide the family with the immediate legal aid and took the necessary legal actions to release the living son and protect his rights. The public prosecutor agent for Hadayeq Al-Qobba prosecution declared that as an administrative detention order was issued to Sameh, it is not in the jurisdiction of criminal procedures law. Rather it is in the jurisdiction of Emergency law. Al-Mahla Al-Kobra, on 1 June, Ahmad Omar was arrested and detained in 1st police station for no reason or crime. He was detained in the fridge “the torture room” for 23 days. Before he died he told his family that the police officer called “AbdelGhany Rashad” injected him in his right foot with a polluted shot, consequently, the victim had a toxemia and the police officer had to release him. The family transported Omar to Al-Mahla Public Hospital from which he was transported to Samannoud Public Hospital on 30/06/2003 where doctors failed to rescue him and he died on 06/07/2003. The medical report stated that the cause of the death is a toxemia resulted from pollution in the right foot. Al-Fayoum, Mohammad El-Rouby was arrested on 26th September 2003. As reported by the newspapers and the Electronic mail groups, El-Rouby, who has just back from France was arrested, detained and tortured to death. He died on Saturday 27th September 2003. His father was forced to bury the dead body without funeral and under strict police preservation. The police also detained a number of the victim’s relatives including his brother as hostages in order to force the father not to report about the death. Though there were witnesses on the torture, the policemen told the father that his dead son committed suicide inside the holding cell. AHRLA condemns the savage series of torture played by the policemen inside the different places of detention, and calls for the officials, the politicians, the Public Prosecutor and the Minister of Interior to take strict serious procedures, rather than the fake statements against the farce series plays of torture which became a system of work for both the Egyptian police and security men. AHRLA also does not forget to point to the action of taking hostages from the victims’ family members and relatives. Those families have enough pain from the loss of their dead sons. Together going for a nation in which citizens enjoy their dignity without torture, cruel, ill –treatment, inhuman or degrading treatment. |