Police Brutality in Egypt

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

I found this in the Egypt web portal today. I especially like the part of the suggestion to the 31st Cario International Film Festival Awards about the "Golden Whip Award" to go to who shows to most violent police brutality clip from Egypt.

Egypt: Journalist Arrested, Bloggers' E-Mail And Youtube Accounts Suspended

PRESS RELEASE

30 November 2007

Posted to the web 30 November 2007

RSF strongly condemns the arrest of journalist Hossam el-Hendy at Helwan University, south of Cairo, as "an attempt to intimate all bloggers in Egypt" after officials there reported him to police for taking photos and sending messages about a demonstration on his mobile phone.

El-Hendy, 22, who works for the daily paper "Al-Dustour" and the website Eshreen ( http://www.20at.com ), was covering a 28 November 2007 protest that erupted when a speaker at a university conference on information technology said it was important to regulate online activity in Egypt.

The press freedom organisation also deplored the suspension, on 21 November, of the YouTube account of journalist and blogger Wael Abbas, who had posted scenes of police brutality. His Yahoo! e-mail account was also suspended on 29 November.

"Abbas is seen by the country's bloggers as a key figure who alerts Egyptians to acts of torture," RSF said. "If some of his clips are too shocking, YouTube can ask him to remove them, but suspending his account is excessive." Abbas has suggested a parallel event to the Cairo Film Festival that would award a "golden whip" to the video of the worst example of police torture.

Egypt is on the RSF list of "enemies of Internet freedom." One blogger, Kareem Amer, 22, is in prison for posting material online and has become a symbol of repression towards the country's bloggers (see IFEX alerts of 12 November, 13 April, 14 March, 22 February and 25 January 2007, and others).

MORE INFORMATION:

For further information contact Hajar Smouni, RSF, 47, rue Vivienne, 75002 Paris, France, tel: +33 1 44 83 84 84, fax: +33 1 45 23 11 51, e-mail: mideast@rsf.org, Internet: http://www.rsf.org

http://allafrica.com/stories/200711301082.html

[Nagishkaw 510]

You know he's getting the work over right about now.

[JODO 2]

Those police in Egypt, I tell ya! Some of them would seem friendly and approachable,but others had a stare so icey, it would turn stone to ice !!!

[Nagishkaw 510]

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

It's rumored on Wiki that the CIA uses Egypt's police for tortureing suspects.

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

And more on Torture in the news section of the Egypt portal today.

Rights group says torture is state policy in Egypt

Mon 10 Dec 2007, 15:27 GMT

By Aziz El-Kaissouni

CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian human rights group accused the government on Monday of officially sanctioning the use of torture, and said that state violence was escalating in the most populous Arab country.

"Torture in Egypt is a state policy, a systematic and organized policy," the Nadim Centre anti-torture group said in a statement marking the release of a report on torture in Egypt covering a four-year span between 2003 and 2006.

The statement said that period saw "an escalation of state violence and restrictions upon the rights to freedom of expression, gathering, demonstration and organisation, as well as an increase in the brutality and practice of torture".

An interior ministry spokesman declined immediate comment, but Egypt has previously said it does not condone torture and that it only occurs in isolated instances. It says it prosecutes perpetrators whenever there is evidence of wrongdoing.

The ministry has said allegations of systematic torture were exaggerated to tarnish the image of the police.

Nadim said it believed torture was a sanctioned government policy because of identical methods of abuse it said were used in various prisons and police stations, including electric shocks and suspension by the hands and wrists.

Nadim also said the authorities typically buried people who died from injuries inflicted while in custody under heavy police guard, suggesting a deliberate policy of covering up torture.

Ahmed Seif el-Islam from the Hisham Mubarak Law Centre, addressing a news conference to launch the Nadim report, said the equipment sometimes used by police against prisoners was not widely available and needed to be budgeted for.

The Nadim report includes a list compiled from newspapers and rights groups of 51 people the group says died in police custody during the period and a second list of more than 200 police officers the group says were implicated in torture.

"We call for their prosecution, that they be held accountable for their actions and be brought to justice," the group said in a statement, referring to those officers.

The report also said that Egyptian law only recognised mistreatment as torture if it is carried out on criminal suspects to extract a confession.

"But torture that is perpetrated to punish or as a favour to a third party or which is perpetrated for no reason save to spread fear and impose police control is no more than ill treatment, and is treated as a misdemeanor, and the penalty for it does not exceed three years of imprisonment," the report said.

The U.S. State Department in an annual report published in March cited Egypt as one of several countries where observance of human rights had deteriorated in 2006 and said violations there included "severe" cases of torture.

http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnBAN055619.html

[PetraPerson101 0]

Welcome to the Middle East.

Take Jordan for example - their idea of "protecting" a person is like this:

- Take you into custody

- Lock you in a cell in 100+ degree heat

- Don't give water

- Don't give food

- Don't give a phone call

Awesome.

Mind you, this is someone who is being "helped" -NOT- arrested.

Now, if you're arrested, you get that -PLUS- they kick your ### a few times with a nightstick/club for good measure.

On the other hand, when they're looking for someone - all the sought-out person needs to do is ... um, hide ... then let a woman answer the door and say they're not home.

They just go away. ( I'm not surprised. )

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

Another Article I found in the VJ portal.

Rights Group Says Egypt Used Torture in Terror Case

By ROBERT F. WORTH

Published: December 12, 2007

BEIRUT, Lebanon — An American human rights group issued a report on Tuesday accusing the Egyptian government of using torture and false confessions in a recent high-profile terrorism case.

The report, by Human Rights Watch, said the Egyptian authorities had little or no evidence when they charged 22 men with a dramatic terrorism plot last year, and that the men were beaten and tortured with electricity and cigarette burns before confessing. There are indications that even the name of the group the men supposedly belonged to — the Victorious Sect — was concocted by security agents, according to the report.

Attempts to reach Egyptian security officials for comment were not successful.

The case drew considerable attention when it was first announced in April 2006. The Egyptian authorities said they had uncovered a plot to blow up oil pipelines, kill Muslim and Christian religious figures and tourists, and acquire land for a terrorist training camp.

But within months, prosecutors dismissed all charges against the 22 men arrested in the case, and ordered their release. Ten of them remain in jail, the report says.

The arrests may have been intended to help justify the renewal of Egypt’s emergency law, which came shortly afterward in 2006, said Joanne Mariner, the terrorism and counterterrorism director at Human Rights Watch. The men arrested were young and had conservative religious views, like many of those arrested in such cases, she added.

The emergency law, which has been in place for decades, allows for trials of civilians before military tribunals and special state security courts that lack basic due-process protections. Other human rights groups have often criticized the law and Egypt’s record on detentions and torture.

“There have been a lot of other arrests based on association as opposed to real evidence, and in that sense this is a paradigmatic case,” Ms. Mariner said. “But this was an important one because of the profile the government gave it.”

Human Rights Watch did not interview any of the 22 men arrested, according to the report, either because the men were not available or because they feared repercussions. Instead, the report’s conclusions about torture were based on interviews with other prisoners who were jailed with them for long periods. Government officials refused to meet with Human Rights Watch or provide information, the group said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/12/world/af...html?ref=africa

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

And in response to that NY Times article I find in the portal this morning this:

Letter

Egypt and Human Rights

Published: December 16, 2007

To the Editor:

Re “Rights Group Says Egypt Used Torture in Terror Case” (news article, Dec. 12):

The allegations contained in the Human Rights Watch report about the Victorious Sect case in Egypt are highly misleading.

The indications that the entire case was “concocted,” as you say, by the security forces rest on very slim evidence. As you note, Human Rights Watch did not interview any of the suspects detained in connection with this case. Furthermore, the accusation that the case was used to justify the renewal of Egypt’s emergency law is contradicted by the government’s announcement that the state of emergency would end within two years, to be replaced by a new antiterrorism law.

The claim of a lack of due process is also contradicted by the fact that the charges were dismissed.

Human Rights Watch seems to have used the case as an opportunity to criticize Egypt with little or no evidence for its assertions.

Karim Haggag

Washington, Dec. 12, 2007

The writer is director of the press and information office at the Egyptian Embassy.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/16/opinion/...amp;oref=slogin

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

I don't know why I am becoming a collector of these human rights violations in Egypt but it seems to be a common thread among their police and military person.

Egypt court jails three police in abuse case

Sat 5 Jan 2008, 20:26 GMT

CAIRO, Jan 5 (Reuters) - An Egyptian court has convicted and jailed three police officers for beating a prisoner in the port city of Alexandria and humiliating him by forcing him to wear women's clothing in public, judicial sources said on Saturday.

The court convicted Yusri Ahmed Issa, an officer, of torture and of assaulting the prisoner's honour, and sentenced him to five years in jail. Two other lower ranking policemen were sentenced to a year each.

The sources said the police officers had forced Ibrahim Abbas, who was then suspected of theft, to put on women's clothing and walk in the streets of Alexandria on Egypt's northern Mediterranean coast in April 2006. They also beat him with batons inside the police station, the sources said.

International and local rights groups say torture is widespread and systematic in Egyptian jails and police stations. They say most abuse cases never make it to court, and torture convictions resulting in jail time are relatively rare.

Egypt has come under increasing public scrutiny in recent years over the treatment of detainees. Rights groups say the abuse can include electric shocks and beatings.

Egypt says it opposes torture and prosecutes policemen against whom it has evidence that they tortured.

The court ruling came two months after a Cairo court sentenced two policemen to three years in prison for torturing a minibus driver in a case that sparked public outrage in Egypt and drew international criticism.

In that case, Captain Islam Nabih and Corporal Reda Fathi were convicted after Egyptian Internet blogs widely circulated a covertly recorded video of an incident in which a man was sodomised with a stick.

The U.S. State Department in an annual report published in March cited Egypt as one of several countries where observance of human rights had deteriorated in 2006 and said violations there included "severe" cases of torture. (Writing by Cynthia Johnston)

source

[Sand 5]

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

There is some justice.

Egypt policemen jailed in latest abuse case

January 06 2008 at 03:02PM

Cairo - An Egyptian court has jailed a police officer for five years and two policemen for a year each for humiliating a detainee by forcing him to wear a woman's nightdress, a judicial source said on Sunday.

The Alexandria criminal court on Saturday sentenced Yusri Ahmed Eissa to five years and two of his deputies to a year each for "degrading" local car park attendant Ibrahim Abbas in April 2006, the source said.

Abbas, who had been detained for alleged theft, was beaten with batons in the police station and then forced to wear a woman's nightdress and walk down a street in Al-Mitras neighbourhood in the Mediterranean city, the source said.

It was the latest in a series of police abuse cases.

Last November 28 an Egyptian court jailed four policemen for up to seven years for beating and torturing a detainee to death.

Rights groups say that abuse by security forces, including torture, is widespread in Egypt and that most cases go unpunished.

source