Rights activists protested yesterday in front of the attorney general's office in downtown Cairo against the alleged torture of a physiotherapist from Fayoum at the hands of a police officer. Taha Abdel Tawwab, a physiotherapist and the Fayoum coordinator for the Campaign to Support ElBaradei, was allegedly beaten and tortured by a state security officer for carrying out activities to endorse ElBaradei for the presidency. Security sources denied that Abdel Tawwab was tortured, saying there were no marks on the physiotherapist's body to prove the incident. The protesters demanded the officer in question be immediately brought to trial. Meanwhile, the prosecution office in Senoures, a town in Fayoum, received the forensic report on Abdel Tawwab's condition and heard his testimony about the incident. Abdel Tawwab affirmed that he was beaten and stripped of his clothes at the state security headquarters for supporting ElBaradei. In a phone conversation with Al-Masry Al-Youm, Abdel Tawwab said that ElBaradei sent him a letter in which he promised to visit the physiotherapist as soon as he returns to Egypt. Abdel Rahman Youssef, coordinator for the Popular Campaign to Support ElBaradei--which organized the protest in cooperation with activists from Kefaya and the 6th of April Youth--confirmed this information. Youssef added: "The protest sought to tell the regime and its security apparatus that the opposition and supporters of ElBaradei both inside and outside Egypt will not stand silent about any attack on his supporters." Translated from the Arabic Edition.
