Neima Atta knew her 24-year-old son, Essam, was being tortured in Tora prison. He rang home on Wednesday evening to let his mother and family know that an officer called Nour was giving him trouble. His father, Ali, told him to try and withstand it, so that the situation – their court appeals against him being tried as a civilian by a military court - doesn't become any worse than it already was, his father said. Essam had been in prison for eight months by then. On Wednesday evening, Essam also asked his sister Iman for a sim card, so that he could keep in touch using a mobile phone. The attempt to smuggle this into his cell the next day was apparently caught by Nour, who said that he would teach Essam a lesson. “I tried to call his mobile at around 7pm on Thursday, and his friend picked up,” Iman told Al-Masry Al-Youm. It was then that she found out that after a two-hour attempt to get his cell door opened, her brother's body was found laying dead. “He was taken from us with the blink of an eye, without a reason,” Iman said. The police officer taught his lesson by inserting hoses into Essam's mouth and anus, which led to bleeding and subsequently his death, Mona Seif, lead campaigner of the No Military Trials for Civilians group, said. He was also made to drink water that was intoxicated with cleaning chemicals, Iman, his sister, said. Saif, the campaigner, spoke to Al-Masry Al-Youm on Friday outside Zainhom, where the official autopsy report was being waited for by around 200 supporters, including members of the April 6 Youth Movement. His mother, Neima, was in shock and wailing constantly as were his two sisters. His father tried to go into the area where the autopsy was being conducted, but would not be admitted. His supporters' version of events is, however, contested by the police. They say there was no evidence of torture on his body, and he died from taking drugs, Malek Adly, the lawyer dealing with Essam's case said. They also tried to say he chemically intoxicated himself and that is what caused his heart to stop. But Adly also took a testimony from the doctor who admitted Essam at Qasr al-Aini hospital, who suspected foul play and said his face had severe injuries with liquid secretions from the mouth. Adly said that there had been attempts to cover up the case by the police. There were no admissions papers for his body at the hospital, for example. Adly then approached the head of a police department to file a complaint, and put in a request with the prosecutor general for an autopsy report. Late on Friday, the autopsy report had been done, but not properly, Seif suspected. In the initial hospital report, medics said Atta died because of an intoxication from an "unknown reason". Following the autopsy, Atta's body was taken for a funeral procession in Tahrir Square where thousands congregated, chanting against torture and military rule. Atta was arrested and given a two-year prison sentence by military police in Moqattam on 25 February, simply for being a bystander as a fight broke out, his sister told Al-Masry Al-Youm. The official version, however, is that he was occupying an apartment illegally with his friends. “Even if he was a thug or a criminal, he doesn't deserve to die, and in this way,” a member of the April 6 Youth Movement said. Before being imprisoned, he worked with his father in a small shop making leather shoes. There are 12,000 civilians being tried by military courts, according to human rights watchdogs' reports.
