Mona El-Nahhas investigates the torture allegations that once again emerged in press headlines Earlier this week human rights activists arrived at the office of Prosecutor-General Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud to file a complaint against the interior ministry, accusing it of responsibility for torture allegedly committed by police officers in the ministry's employ. The activists, representing 21 NGOs, cited three incidents in which policemen are alleged to have killed and seriously injured relatives of suspects for whom the police were searching. Following the meeting with Mahmoud the activists announced that the prosecutor-general had agreed to open investigations into each of the three incidents. According to a top ranking security official speaking to Al-Ahram Weekly on customary condition of anonymity, "such could boil down to being mere fabricatioins," urging that since the matter is currently under the prosecutor's investigations, "let us wait and see." This is not the first incident of its kind, explained the security source, the past years have witnessed similar allegations where the Minister of Interior Habib El-Adli expressed, "zero tolerance" to those found guilty assuring that "no one is above the law." The source further added, that while there has been a number of officers found guilty of torture charges and sentenced to terms in jail, "such remain individual incidents." On Saturday, during a demonstration organised in support of victims of torture at Cairo's Downtown Supreme Judiciary House, banners were raised reading "No to security thuggery" and "Unity to restore the dignity of Egyptian citizens". The following day, at noon, a press conference was held at the Hisham Mubarak Centre for Human Rights, where relatives and friends of those who claim to be torture victims narrated their experiences. Saber Abul-Fotouh, an independent MP and one of the conference's main speakers, spoke about the case of Hamada Abdel-Latif, a 47- year-old oil refinery worker from Alexandria. Abdel-Latif was taking his two children to Al-Gezira School in Alexandria on the morning of 25 September when he found streets leading to the school cordoned off by security forces. Around 40 armoured vehicles were stationed nearby. Getting closer, Abdel-Latif was stopped by policemen who did not allow students and their parents into the school. The governor of Alexandria had issued a decree closing the school, which is alleged to be owned by an Islamist, 10 days earlier. The school owner appealed to courts and a ruling was passed annulling the governor's closure decree. Abdel-Latif, like other parents, subsequently received a call from the school informing him that the school was seeking to implement the court's ruling and reopen. As Abdel-Latif approached the school with his children he was allegedly knocked to the ground by a policeman and beaten around the neck with a baton. Almost a month later he is still in hospital, and after two operations remains completely paralysed. "Torture is no longer limited to places of detention," Abul-Fotouh told the conference. "Now innocent people can be attacked by policemen anywhere and at any time." The husband and three children of Mervat Abdel-Sattar were present to give their own testimony. On 8 October Abdel-Sattar, a 34-year- old resident of Samallut, Minya, was busy doing her housework when policemen arrived at her house with a search warrant, looking for her brother-in-law who had been accused of theft. When the heavily pregnant Abdel-Sattar tried to prevent the police from stepping inside she was hit with the butt of a pistol. She died a few minutes after the police left. Hearing of her death hundreds of Samallut residents attacked policemen with stones and set fire to a police truck. Tear gas was used to disperse the angry crowd and 16 people were arrested on charges of public disorder. "All I want is justice for my wife," said Hassan Riyad, Abdel-Sattar's husband. "They contacted me and promised that they would release my brother if I dropped the case", Riyad said, stressing he would never agree to such a trade off. Samah Khalil Ibrahim went on to tell the conference of the fate of her 62-year-old father. The police raided the family house searching for Samah's brother, wanted in connection with a drug case. Failing to find him they began to attack her father. She provided details of what she claimed was a brutal attack on her father before his arrest, adding that the prosecution finally allowed him to be hospitalised. Independent MP Sobhi Saleh said it was a matter of urgency that the prosecutor-general act on cases of torture. Failure to do so, he warned, could lead to a complete breakdown in law and order.
