Nadim Center for Psychological Management & Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence*

 

 

TORTURE IN EGYPT

FACTS AND TESTIMONIES

 

Contents:

Chapter One: Phenomenon of systematic torture in Egypt

Chapter Two: Torture inside police stations

·      Torture and its psychological effects

·      Forms of torture and its physical effects                                        

·      Statistics

·      Testimonies

Chapter Three: Torture of whole families in detention places

Chapter Four: Follow up of torture cases previously reported

Chapter Five: State Violence

Conclusion and Recommendations

Preface

Nadim Center for Psychological Management and Rehabilitation

El Nadim Center for Psychological Management & Rehabilitation is an Egyptian non-governmental organization seeking to combat violence and torture. To achieve that goal, El Nadim offers psychological management and rehabilitation as well as other forms of physical and moral support for victims of violence whatever its source and regardless of sex, age, nationality or religion of its victims.

Mission:

El Nadim has been established to contribute in building a society free from all forms of torture, violence and all forms of discrimination whether this is based on gender, color, age, religion or social background…. etc.

Goals:

·      Offering rehabilitative short and long term psychological management for men, women and children who suffered any form of physical or psychological violence, whether they are Egyptians or non-Egyptians.

·      Forging strong and steady relations with organization, institutions and individuals who are dealing with victims of violence to coordinate efforts in the benefit of victims.

·      Documenting information, research papers and studies, whether local or international, on violence and other forms of abuse as well as the most recent trends in psychological management and rehabilitation.

·      Conducting researches and studies on proliferation of different forms of violence and studying the factors that relate and lead to their proliferation.

·      Cooperation with researchers or/and research organizations which are interested in conducting researches and studies on these issues or those who want to offer medical, social, or legal support for violence and torture victims.

·      Raising social awareness to combat torture as a phenomenon.

·      Providing educational and training about the different aspects of violence and torture victims and focusing on the bases of trust and respecting victims' rights. In that respect, El Nadim targets people concerned with this area of social work including medical and health workers, psychologists and researchers working in the field of psychology, lawyers, advocates and civil societies activists.

·      Boosting and supporting practical efforts, by local and international organizations, seeking to stop all practices that violate victims' rights.  

·      Cooperating with Hisham Mubarak Center for Legal Assistance to provide legal assistance to people in need for such assistance as an integrated and indispensable component of the psychological rehabilitation process. Continued campaigning to combat torture provided the concerned person's acceptance.

·      Participating with other sister and similar non-governmental organizations in conducting research and campaigns that aim to eradicate violence and torture in society.

Introduction

At the beginning of this report, El Nadim owes an apology to its friends and to all those who are concerned with its activities and to put an end to torture and violence in Egypt, since we have been late in publishing this report. The delay was beyond our will. The past months were full of events that left us with hardly any time or energy to work on the draft, waiting to be finalized for some time. We are indebted to all members of El Nadim team and its friends whom did their best to accomplish this report besides all their other obligations.

Over the last few years, there has been a notable increase in the number of people who are seeking help at El Nadim. Otherwise a lot of time and energy has been devoted to participate with other nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in numerous national activities, foremost the campaign for freedom of association and against the new law governing the formation of associations.

We also undertook an active role in creating the Popular Committee for Supporting the Palestinian Intifada and in its activities, in addition to setting up a program that focuses on violence against women.

Meanwhile the center managed to produce a few publications. For example, during the past two years, we issued and published a booklet titled “Stop Torture Now”, in collaboration with Hisham Mubarak Law Center. We also produced a report on violence inside and outside police stations jointly with Hisham Mubarak Law Center and Land Center for Human Rights. Otherwise a report on violence against women has been published as part of a joint research project which included a number of women’s organizations, entitled “Status of Women at the Dawn of the 21^st Century”, published by the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR).

El Nadim also prepared a background paper for the Egyptian CEDAW shadow report regarding violence against women in the Egyptian society and volunteered the editing of the overall report, drafted by a number of women and development NGOs from all over Egypt.

Finally we hope this report on “Torture in Egypt: Facts and Testimonies”, would be a modest effort in the struggle to put an end to this crime against humanity. We would be grateful to receive your comments as well as your suggestions on how to further improve the Center’s work and activities.

Two other reports will soon follow. The first will include information about El Nadim’s activities with Sudanese torture victims. The second will be about our experience in working with women victims of violence.

 

El Nadim Team

Cairo, January 2003

 

Chapter One: The Phenomenon of Systematic Torture in Egypt

Over the last two decades, NGOs working in the field of human rights have documented thousands of torture cases in police stations, prisons and state security headquarters. Meanwhile Human Rights Center for the Assistance of Prisoners (HRCAP) monitored 1124 torture cases in prisons. International organizations such Amnesty International and United Nations human rights committees, including the Committee for Monitoring the Implementation of the Convention for the Prevention of Torture, also recorded many documented reports augmented with the victims testimonies as well as their photos and a briefing about their impending lawsuits.

The follow up committee of the implementation of the Convention against Torture repeatedly put forth many questions as well as recommendations to the Egyptian Government concerning the prevalence of systematic torture in Egyptian jails, to no avail. Despite the fact that the state has admitted its awareness to the pervasiveness of torture in Egypt, and the fact that they informed the Follow Up Committee that they had received 450 complaints from victims of torture in the past five years, no measures have been taken for preventing torture and no explanation has been offered for its continuation.

During the period from August 1993 until December 2001, El Nadim has provided medical treatment for hundreds of victims of torture and any form of organized violence at the hands of state security agencies. El Nadim, alongside with other local NGOs, revealed that torture was not localized to any specific region, but spanned the entire country and took place in every custody center in the country. The methods of torture barely differed at all. Its victims included men, women as well as children of all ages.

It is important to note that torture is not restricted to political and conscience prisoners, and it is used as well as against suspects in petty and non-criminal cases sometimes even without any evidence against them. Dozens of people may be tortured during interrogation, while investigating some small robberies such as cassette players or bicycles etc. There are no specific rules to follow in identifying a suspect, instead it is depending on investigators personal reasoning, using their undisputed authority in whichever manner he desires and against whomever he decides he is guilty.

Torture is used as a way of demonstrating power or authority, so that the more powerful can subjugate the weak. Torture is not simply a mechanism of forcing out a suspects confession, for there are many cases where the victim is tortured to satisfy a third party related to some police officer or some official. A case in point here is the case of Abdel-Latif Idris, a cook employed by a former minister of health, who was tortured in ways beyond human imagination, for four consecutive days, to please his excellency the minister and his most respectable wife. Monbeyya has been tortured as well for several days in a police station in Qalyob about 20 km north of Cairo to satisfy “Sheik- el Balad” (Town Chief) since she refused to sell him a piece of her land. 

Sometimes torture led to killing some of victims, as in the case of Rabie Suliman (40 years). He was accused of stealing cattle. He was not released, even though the District Attorneys office had officially released him, and he was burned with kerosene while he was confined in a police station in Fayoum and died tow months later because of the severity of his burns, which covered half of his body. He suffered all those forms of torture to satisfy a third party who was in some way related to the officer in Fayoum police station. Ahmed Mahmoud Mohamed Tamam, is another example of fatalities due to torture. Ahmed was killed under torture to please a relative of one of the officers in the Omraniya police station. Here too, the District Attorneys office ordered his release, while the police station kept him incarcerated, and tortured him to death.

Otherwise Nadim Center and other human rights organizations monitored cases where a suspect’s family members were arrested and tortured to pressure the suspect into turning himself or herself in, or to pressure the family members themselves into informing them regarding the suspects’ whereabouts. This procedure was labeled as Incarcerating Hostages Policy. Such a policy was inflicted on Ms. Ateyat, where she, along with her family, were tortured mercilessly, until they were on the verge of insanity, so that they would tell about the whereabouts of her son.

In Alexandria, a family of thirteen, four of whom were children, has been tortured because one of its members was a suspect in a murder case in their neighborhood. Ms. Amal Farouk was tortured repetitively in state security headquarters, where she was forced to give a written statement, incriminating her husband who was allegedly involved with Muslim activist groups.

We can assume that the exact numbers of torture victims are really as many times as what has been already revealed. For many reasons victims could not complain against people who tortured them, let alone take legal action. The simplest of these reasons is fear of police threats to re-arrest and torture them and their families all over again if they dare to come forward. Sometimes if victims tried to put forth a complaint or report what happened, police authorities would frame them for crimes they didn’t commit.

These threats can be very effective, as in the case of above mentioned Abd- El Latif Idris who was told that if he sought medical help or went to a doctor, he would be killed. He was so frightened that he became hysterical when El Nadim doctors visited him.  He said: “Ayman said if I opened my mouth to say a word or went to a doctor he will kill me. He siad killing me ill only cost us a three pennies bullet.” Ahmed Badawy was even less fortunate since the threats did come true. He and his children were framed for many crimes, and were tortured repeatedly, all because he refused to bow to the pressure and threats of the police in El Zawya El Hamra, a neighborhood north of Cairo. He continued pursuing the case of his daughter Sabah, murdered at the hand of an officer by pushing her out of a fifth floor window.

In many cases victims find themselves helpless and unprotected in the face of an enormous invincible beast, ruthless and horrible agencies. So they withdraw in the fear that they or their families will be tortured again if they do otherwise. Thus, this systematic torture has achieved its purpose, to destroy the very morality of the victims’ being, and to humiliate them to a point that denies them all dignity. Victims would lose all faith in themselves, in law and in society; they would see no hope neither nor the future nor in life itself, for their will is broken and with it their motivation to pursue their executioner.

 However, there are some victims who still retain the strength to go after their persecutors. Yet they the necessary financial resources.  Nor do they know of Human Rights organizations, which could help them, either because those are still scarce and non- influential, because those organizations are mostly located entirely in Cairo, or because some of them are still new, not well known to the public and their activities are not well advertised.

There are also many legal barriers, which prevent the victims from going to courts. Those barriers weaken the victims’ belief that they would ever be able to capture their tormentors. This factor is of paramount importance, as we shall discuss later in more detail.

Constitution, Law and International Agreements

The Egyptian constitution proscribes torture and ill treatment, as cited in Article 42 that says “Every citizen arrested or having their liberty confined in anyway shall be treated in a manner which preserves his dignity and shall not be harmed physically or morally” and Article 57 which says “Any criminal or civil legal cases ensued from torture are imprescriptible.”

The penal code puts in detail these constitutional rules in a number of articles as follows: 

“Any government employee or official who instructs others to torture, or himself carries out the torture to get confessions shall be sentenced by 3 to 10 years of hard labor in jail, and if a torture victim is killed the torturer shall be punished by the same sentence of intentional murder.” (Article 126)

“Anyone who arrests someone without evidence or right, and threatens to kill, or inflicts physical torture, shall be sentenced to temporary hard labor.” (Article 282)

In addition to the constitution and penal code, the Declaration for the Prevention of Torture, which was signed by Egypt, also considers torture as a crime.

It states that “no excuse or extraordinary circumstances, such as state of war or threat of war or internal political instability or any emergency situation should be used as a justification for torture. (Article 2/2)

Despite the importance and relevance of what is stated in the Egyptian constitution and penal code, there are still some problems. One of these problems is that the definition of torture according to article 126 is poor and severely insufficient. It is specifying torture only if it is used in coercing a confession. We have already demonstrated and verified that torture takes place for innumerable reasons, none of which are deemed punishable in accordance with this definition.

Other motives behind torture include torture to get information from the accused or anyone else related to a particular case, or torture of somebody simply for being suspected of a crime, or even for personal reasons or self gratification or to appease someone else who would like to see the victim “set straight”.

Sometimes torture is inflicted only to degrade the victims, to strip them of all dignity, to humiliate them and break their morals. Article 126 also fails to implicate anyone who physically contributes to the act of torture, covers it up or keeps silent.

As for the Declaration for the Prevention of Torture, it cannot be automatically implemented. It only constitutes a framework. It cannot be applicable unless the state signatories undertake legal measures and amend national laws that contradict the provisions of the Declaration, Otherwise the Declaration would remain useless.

Law of Criminal Procedures

Then there is the Egyptian Law of Criminal Procedures as another major legal obstacle. Article 162 of this law violates the constitution and obstructs the process of legal actions. This has created a difficult barrier that prevents torture victims or their families (in case of death under torture) from undertaking direct legal action or complaint. They have to go through the Prosecutor General, who is the one who decides whether or not they are entitled to a criminal  legal case. This article clearly states that “the claimant maintains the civil right to appeal against the judgments of the judge of investigations refuting the complaint, except if the was against a public employee or official or an officer in a crime committed by him during his job or because of that, other than the crimes mentioned in article 123 of the Penal Code.”

This article clearly considers that torture is a crime only if it occurs while carrying out duties or because of them. In addition, article 162 also deprives the victim of the right to trial or appeal against judgment by stating, “There are no grounds for litigation”. In practice that means closing the case altogether.

The Prosecutor General at the allowance of this article has closed dozens of litigations. By doing so rejection of the case is not a legal decision and cannot therefore be appealed by the victim.

However, in case the Prosecution stalls or tarries the case instead of rejecting it, there is no effective measure to be taken to prevent this or to speed up the procedures, since the victim is not allowed to acquire an investigations judge and that right is reserved only for the Prosecutor General and the Minister of Justice.

Many files of torture litigations have been closed before ever reaching court. For instance, there were the cases of Moneeba Naji, Bahaa Boqtor and the case of Ibrahim Abo-Zeid. Abo-Zeid’s son was tortured to death in a police station in Mansoura, in an effort to make him confess to a theft that he had not committed and despite the fact that the officers at the police station knew that he was mentally ill. The autopsy report showed that the victim had sustained forty injuries on his body.   

Even when a case reaches the court, the judge can dismiss it on the basis of lack of “grounds for the complaint”, or lack of evidence. This is permissible according to Article 154 of the Law of Criminal Procedures which states “A judge can dismiss a complaint on the basis that the incident is not punishable by law, or due to lack of evidence, and in both cases he orders that there is no ground for the complaint.”

In addition, there are many difficulties in collecting evidence of torture. Among others, victims are usually blindfolded when they are being tortured, and the policemen call each other with false names, so that no positive identification can be made. Furthermore, there are forms of torture, which leave little physical traces and that are difficult to detect, like sexual abuse, rape, electric shocks, and many victims are not examined by forensic medicine until after the scars have healed. Its worth mentioning that forensic medicine reports only on the external injuries of the victim and pays no attention at all to the psychological toll that torture takes, which is most probably more damaging, more brutal, more lasting, and much more dangerous to the individuals, their families and the society as whole.

In 1989 and due to lack of evidence, forty-four police officers and prison guards were declared innocent when they had been accused of torturing members of the fundamentalist Islamic groups, because the victims couldn’t identify their torturers clearly since they were blindfolded at the time.

To this day not a single officer has appeared in front of court in a political case because of torture accusations. The overall number of policemen taken to court is minimal when compared to the prevalence of torture in the prisons. Even then the cases are usually criminal ones and the torture issue has become an issue of [public concern because of death of the victim. An example of such cases is the incident of Aswan in November 2000 where two policemen were successfully charged and convicted of torture and manslaughter and sentenced to three and seven years of imprisonment. In Port Said a policeman was sentenced to 25 years in jail for raping a woman in custody. Another officer was charged with the murder of Fateh Elbab Abdel-Moneim in 1994 and sentenced to one year of suspended sentence. For the murder of Rabee Suleiman who died of multiple burns with Kerosene in the police station in Senores, Fayoum, the officer was sentenced to two years in jail. He later appealed and was acquitted!!!

  Amidst all this absurdity and injustice, historical judgments are sometimes made, indicating some remaining hope in the Egyptian legal system. Mohamed Badr Eddin Goma’a Ismail was tortured into confessing to murder of his own 9 years old daughter Jihad. The confession detailed the crime and he reiterated it to the Prosecution. Later his daughter surfaced alive and well, and Mohamed spoke to the courts about how he was tortured at the hands of the police and that they had fabricated the entire story. Not only did the judges acquit the father, they also stated that “The report points to the fact that the investigation was carried out with extreme negligence and disregard to procedure, that a deliberate attempt was made to distort justice, and that the court was appalled with the severe lack of moral conduct. The report also verified the use of excessive brutality and torture that lead the victim to sign a false confession to a crime he had not committed. In response, the court reserves the right, as stated in Article 11 of the Criminal Justice Code, to refer the report back to the General Prosecution, in order to reopen investigation against officer Mahmoud Rizk and his accomplices in such criminal activity.”

Monofeya Criminal Justice Court decided to sentence Essam Eddin Antar, warden of Wadi El-Natroon Prison with 10 years imprisonment, officer Magdy Mohamed Khalil from Maslahet Elsegoon (prisons service) with seven years and two police assistants Saeed Farag Ibrahim and Abdullah Mahmoud El-Eraqy with five years imprisonment each for aiding in the torture and consequent death of Ahmad Mohamed Eissa, who died while in police custody.

 These are only a few of the difficulties that face anti-torture activities and efforts to punish abusers and torturers whatever their ranks. Other obstacles includes an endless list of restrictive laws such as the law of suspicion, emergency laws, laws governing the press and many more laws that allow for the bypass and violation of rights. The fact that the state controls the media and most tools of mass communications is yet another unsurpassable barrier since it prevents torture from becoming a public opinion concern. This is a very serious obstacle, because not only does the state thereby become part of the cover up, but also a powerful partner in this brutal crime.

Chapter two: Torture Inside Police Stations

Methods of Torture and its psychological effects

Since early history human societies have witnessed several forms of violence.  Tendencies to segregate and racial inclinations were major factors that led to violence in societies where concepts of respect to the human rights of weaker individuals or groups in the social fabric were absent. Individuals’ and groups’ rights are usually sacrificed in the name of preserving the rights of the whole, as if this whole was anything else but those individuals and groups put together.

Humanity has known several forms of violence. With the development of political and social authority it has come to know torture as a method of subordination and control for the sake of preserving the interests of that authority and securing its continuous control and hegemony.

Torture is considered one of the most horrible forms of violence humanity has ever known. However, there is scarcity in the literary or scientific work that addresses this phenomenon, as well as scarcity in humanitarian projects or human rights organizations that work in supporting is victims. This is possibly because it is a difficult issue to speak about, whether by victims themselves or by the workers who psychologically rehabilitate them.

The experience of torture is a unique one and falls outside the realm of “probable” or “likely” human experiences, including tragedies like sickness or natural disaster.  It is not resembled in its hardship or in the extent of psychological damage it causes by any other experience humanity has known.

Describing the experience of torture or talking about it requires a recall of the situation of torture itself, with all its memories, which may be more painful than the person can endure. Avoidance of the subject is a common reaction among victims and workers in the field alike.

Added to this are difficulties facing the therapist.  Victims of torture are not the usual medical or pathological cases, they are not the usual “patients” who can be described using the usual medical or psychological terms of reference, nor can they be simply categorized according to classifications of psychological disorders. Victims of torture usually come in a shredded and crumbled state, feeling a loss of self as a whole. One of the victims describes himself as “a cup of glass broken into many small pieces”.  He feels he has lost his being and wholeness as a human. When people come so far in their self-perception, their only hope is to die or to simply vanish from existence.

The therapeutic mission with victims of torture is equally difficult, complex and non-conventional.  It does not only aim at reducing the pains of the victims, but also to restore their wholeness and the coherence of their lives and human existence and to protect them from external and internal sources of threat to safety.

The difficulty and complication of the situation arises from the fact that torture is a form of intentional and organized violence, which is consciously experienced by the victim without having any ability to control it, to determine its extent or time limit nor to influence it in any way nor by any means.

Torture includes and aims at limiting the freedom of victims. It freezes their will and their control over body and mind. It objectifies them by omitting their nature as humans and transforms them into objects for torture.  The only being then capable of action is the torturer and the authority he represents and in whose name he tortures. Here lies the goal of torture and the secret of its power as a tool for oppression and control.  Through the total control of the victim’s body and mind, the aim is to reshape him or her according to the wish of the torturer and the authority he represents.

Without over simplifying we can classify torture techniques into two main categories:

1. Techniques that target the weakening of the victim, creating a state of extreme fatigue, fear, and unbearable stress.  It also aims at getting the victim to the point of losing any hope or belief in any probability that the situation might turn to the better. This results in the breaking of the biological and psychological defense mechanisms of the victim.

2. Techniques of shattering the personality, which aim at creating a state of internal conflict accompanied by destructive anguish and feelings of shame and guilt, loss of self esteem and a feeling of contradiction and deformation of self perception of the victim regarding his/her self awareness as a whole being with an independent existence.  This drains the internal psychological resources that help a person face external danger.

The mental and physical damage resulting from torture does not only result from the physical pain in itself.  One of the victims expressed this saying: “I did not care much about the pain resulting from beating and suspension, but the screaming from the other room was unbearable”.

Illnesses that inflict severe pain do not cause the symptoms observed on torture victims, neither are they observed on victims of natural disasters such as earthquakes or floods. In those disasters, and despite the fact that they may result in severe psychological and physical injuries, yet they remain matters that can be understood, analyzed and accepted by the human mind. This is not the case with torture, where the situation is impossible to understand, comprehend or absorb.

In the following we will try to clarify the psychological dynamics created by the situation of torture to make clear the state in which the victims are, both in the short and long term.

Psychological impacts of torture

Learned Helplessness: This occurs when the outside events are beyond the capacity of control or comprehension of the victim; when the person’s ability to control or affect the incidents decreases, or when different reactions and responses fail to cause any change in the situation.  One of the theories suggests that the reasons of chronic depression are the fact that reward and punishment have no clear implication on the response of the individual.  This is what happens in torture.  During torture, the victim learns that torture is continuous regardless of his or her reaction. Even the provision of required information or confessions, does not stop the pain. Therefore, there is no meaning in any response or reaction, since it would not result in any change in his or her reality.

Destruction of Meaning: The mind, in regular circumstances, organizes the experiences and life events, categorizes them in a logical frame and connects them with previous experiences.  Through this organization we can decide on the important events for us, understand them and decide on the way to deal with the situation in question.  Such organization gives us a feeling of security and historical continuity. What happens now, for instance, can be recognized, together with its outcome through association with past experiences. This existential continuity is essential to give a meaning to our existence, and our continuance in life. Seen from this angle torture is a direct attack on this system. The situation of torture lacks the past experience through which it can be understood.  It is a moment that is not related to the one preceding it and no prediction can be given to its consequences.  It stops time and the feeling of continuity, and thus the meaning of existence, which leaves an extremely serious effect on the victim, who is thrown in a bottomless pit of isolation, outside time and place and events.

Reality and Fantasy: When the actual reality is more bizarre than anything imaginary, a psychological feeling of bewilderment and irrationality arises.  At the same time, real things lose their meaning and value.  Basics and values that are known and that help in understanding and organizing experiences are confused. Some of the techniques of torture are designed to break the victims feeling of truth and reality, as with suspension from one leg in a ceiling fan, where someone – carelessly – turns on the fan on a high speed, causing major confusion in perception and orientation within space.

Splitting: The human body has a dual nature.  The body as an objective issue, separated from the self, and the body as a lived experience or an issue for the self. In regular circumstances, we do not perceive our bodies as separate from us.  We deal with our bodies as a means or a medium to express ourselves, adapt to external effects, and develop our social experience. The body, as an experience, is the individual’s first realization of the “ego”, the self or the soul.  Through this realization or this experience, the body is unified as a consciousness with experience and as an object.  The Self (ego) tends to function as a whole, as a single entity. When this body as an “object” feels comfortable, this is accompanied by a conscious feeling of creating an experience of comfort. In the case of torture, and because of the extreme suffering involved, the body becomes a separate object from the self. Consciousness and perception fail to act in harmony, which results in a severe division between the existence of the individual and his or her perception of his or her self.

Clinical Symptoms

We have discussed the psychological dynamics resulting from the situation of torture.  These dynamics translate themselves in psychological and physical symptoms that frequently accompany the victim for a long time, sometimes for a lifetime.  We can classify these symptoms into four main categories:

Psychosomatic symptoms: They are the most common among torture victims.  They include chronic headaches, loss of appetite, decreased libido, insomnia, bone and muscle ache, stomach and digestive system disturbance, disturbances in the urinary or genital system and hormonal disturbances, etc.

Behavioral symptoms: Including changes in personality; substance abuse; isolation; dependence; decrease in ability to initiate; carelessness; bluffing; impulsiveness and suspicious behavior.

Emotional and cognitive symptoms: The most common are feelings of helplessness; decrease in self-esteem, chronic symptoms of depression, expressed as inability to enjoy life, death wishes, suicidal thoughts, feelings of guilt and helplessness, sleep disturbances including nightmares, and memory disturbances.

Methods of torture and their physical effects as described by victims

The torture scenarios in places of incarcerations are well-known and planned by police staff. They may differ in a few elements here and there but the main “methodology” remains the same.

The following are the methods of torture used in incarceration places as described by victims of torture visiting El Nadim.

Beating:  Beating is the first reception ritual awaiting the victims, whether during arrest or at the moment they reach the police station or jail, in what is usually called “Reception party”. Fists, legs, army boots, batons, sticks, electric cables and gun handles are used. Sometimes beating is accompanied with standing or jumping on the victim’s chest. Beating is usually concentrated on the head, neck and genital organs. It results in bruises, cuts and broken bones. The head injury might result in brain hemorrhage that might lead to the death of the victim. Also, beating on the ears might result in the rupture of the eardrum. Beating on the testicles might cause a reflex cardiac arrest causing sudden death.

All the victims who have visited Nadim Center have been subjected to beating.  Beating on the testicles resulted in death in three cases, and in abortion in one case.

Suspension: Suspension is considered one of the most commonly used methods of torture in police stations and jails, and it is one of the most painful methods, both psychologically and physically. The victim is totally incapacitated. Any movement intensifies the horrible pain accompanying the pulling on the nerves. Suspension is accompanied with extreme humiliation, where a person’s position is similar to that of an animal in a slaughterhouse. A victim is suspended from one hand or both hands after being tied behind the back.  Sometimes a weight, such as a cement pack or a gas tube, is tied to the arms or feet to intensify the pulling on the nerves of the arms and upper arms, and so also intensifying the pain and damage.

Among the clients received in Nadim Center, 27 have been subjected to suspension. Most of them have suffered partial or total tearing in the nervous plexus resulting in motor and sensory weakness

Flooding the head in water, which is usually dirty.

Forcing the hands in extremely hot water resulting in skinning of the hand. One victim was subject to this method.

Spraying icy water on the body: Sometimes this is done in winter, and might be accompanied by fanning the victim’s body.  Most victims were subjected to this method.  Also, ice logs might be placed on the victim’s chest.

Electric shocks: This is done by connecting electric wires to fingers, tongue or behind the ear. Frequently, electricity is used on genitals. When electric current runs through the body, the victim goes into extremely violent contractions depriving him or her of any control over his or her body. This is accompanied by pain all over the body and a state of fear and terror whose memory does not leave the survivors minds. Thirty-six cases were subject to this method.

Burning:  By cigarettes or red hot metal tools.  Nine cases were subjected to these methods, four of whom had deep burns that were complicated by infection and scarring.  On of the victims was literally burnt by pouring kerosene on his body and setting him on fire. A few weeks later he died.

Rape: Rape is done by a tool, like a stick, and is inflicted on both sexes. One female victim was actually raped. It is obvious that psychological humiliation and destroying of dignity is the aim of this brutal method.  In all the cases that Nadim Center has dealt with, rape, irrespective of the method used, was the most difficult and sensitive issue in the process of psychological rehabilitation.

It frequently forces the victims to withdraw socially and to impose complete isolation on themselves. Many of the victims have not tackled this issue in their meetings with the therapists for a long time, sometimes for months. Others could not speak about it, and preferred to write about it in sealed letters which they gave to their therapists. Images of this painful scene keep haunting the victim over and over, whether during sleep or waking hours and might cause severe flashbacks upon seeing anything that relates closely or generally to that incident. This might also happen during marital sex, resulting in complicating and impossibility of the relation, which intensifies the victims feelings both of helplessness and guilt.

Sexual abuse, rape and threats of rape: Where the victim is forced to take off his or her clothes, then the body is abused, especially the sensitive parts.  This happens with men and women. Women’s bodies and clothes are ridiculed and described in obscene language. This occurred in 43 cases, among which seven women were stripped and abused by words and touch, and seven have been threatened by rape.  In one case, the scrotum was squeezed violently resulting in unbearable physical pain together with feelings of humiliation and severe psychological suffering.

Threats of harming the victim’s family: This method was used in 24 cases. In some cases family members have suffered harm by incarceration, torture or rape of women. (In at least 8 cases).

Watching torture of other victims: The victim might be one of the family members, like torturing a husband and wife in front of each other, or the mother and the child are both tortured in the same place. (8 cases).

Keeping large numbers of people in very small rooms, which are mal-ventilated, dirty and dark: Incarceration might occur in very dirty bathrooms, which might precipitate asthma attacks in vulnerable victims and cause skin and chest infections in others. Most victims have been subject to that.

Deprivation: Sometimes victims were tortured by food or water deprivation, by prohibiting the use of toilets and water to clean oneself. Victims were also sometimes deprived of sleep and mobility.  An addition form of deprivation is sensory deprivation, which aims at creating a vague biological and psychological state causing severe anxiety, frequently resulting in nervous breakdowns, complete helplessness and wearing out of will.

The most common way of deprivation in torture is to blindfold the victim. This method was used in almost all cases.  It is believed that blindfolding the victim aims at protecting the torturer, and securing him of being recognized. In fact blindfolding, in itself, is one of the most horrible torture methods, because it involves an interaction between the “blinded” victim and an invisible person. The victim is thereby neither recognizes his torturer nor is able to predict his next move. It creates a state of complete senselessness as it deprives the victim of clues for reacting. The victim also feels that he or she is placed in a state of constant danger, for the victim does not know the people surrounding him or her, or from where the blows would come. Also, he or she cannot predict the incidents to come, or what awaits him or her in the next moment.

Sleep deprivation is done in several ways, like flooding the floors of the cells with water or dirty garbage, or by the jailers exchanging shifts throughout the day, preventing the victim from sleep, which results in a state of nervous breakdown.

Breaking bones: This is done through beating by sticks, batons or ends of guns.  The fracture affects any of the bones of the body, whether in the arms, legs, jaws, nasal septum or teeth.  Four cases suffered from this condition.

Dragging on the floor: The victim is dragged on the floor either on the stomach or the back.  Normally it happens during the arrest of the victim, where he or she is dragged on the floor in front of passers by until he or she reaches the police car.  Eight cases were subjected to this kind of torture (one of them was dragged from his home until the police station).

Humiliation: including verbal abuse, ridiculing the victim and his or her body, calling them humiliating names that violate his or her dignity and their parents and family.  All cases were subject to that kind of torture.

The following are tables and figures showing profiles of clients visiting El Nadim Center, from August 1993 till December 2001.

Table (1): Gender and Nationality

 

 

Table (2): Egyptians Cases

 

 

Notes:

(1)   There is an overlap between cases of torture cases and state violence in the case of 23 males and 36 females.

(2)   There is overlap between cases of child abuse and rape and sexual harassment.

 

Table (3) Cases of death under torture (PS = police station)

 

Testimonies from El Nadim Files

 

Ahmed Mahmoud Tammam

Ahmed Mahmoud Tammam was 19 years of age at the time of the incident. He had a quarrel with one of his neighbors, a quarrel like any other that happens all the time between young people. The neighbor had a relative who claimed then to be a journalist in Akhbar Alyoum newspaper. That relative had strong relations with a police officer in Omranniya police station. So, that officer complimented him at the expense of Ahmed Tammam’s life, who was tortured to death in the police station.

El Nadim visited the house of Ahmed Tammam’s family after the journalist Mohammed Mounir, published his story in El Ahali newspaper on 4 August 1999. The physicians spoke with the members of the family, and saw the stairs that were broken while Ahmed was being dragged on them.

Here, we present two testimonies of the physicians of the center. In the first testimony the physicians give a live picture of the state of the family reflecting the damage that was done to them, the damage whose effects are still there, despite the three years that have passed since the incident.

The incident is written as told by Ahmed’s sister, mother and brother to the physicians. We also give a summary of the autopsy report, which provides evidence that torture in Omranniya police station is responsible to for the death of Ahmed Mahmoud Tammam.

First Testimony: This was our first visit to the house of Ahmed Mahmoud Tammam.  Six months had passed since the incident, but we felt as if the news of Ahmed’s death had just been broken to the heart torn family. The house was in black, mourning rituals were there, dim lights, black clothes, Ahmed’s picture with a black ribbon on the wall and Quran tapes do not stop day or night. Time has stopped at that date, and refused to move, as if Ahmed’s blood is still on the walls, the doors and the stairs. He is still in front of them in every moment, screaming of the horrible pain and torture, moaning from the deep hurt and humiliation. They listen carefully to the voice that is growing weaker and weaker, until it reaches eternal silence.  Sadness and grief on the faces soar, looks are strayed, hands are shaking, tears flow.  However, it cannot put off the fire burning in their hearts. Nothing can put off this fire that tears ribs and smothers breath, but revenge from the criminals. Everybody is waiting for the words of justice. Waiting for the day that the bars will hold the murderers who tortured Ahmed and killed him by using electric shocks.

The mother did not see him for days before the day he was arrested. She was in their apartment in 6^th of October City, waiting for him to join her. But he did not come, and the news of his arrest was brought to her. When she saw him in the headquarters of the District Attorney his face was swollen and colored in red and blue.  His clothes were torn, dirty. He was sad and broken, unable to stand on his feet. In twenty-four hours, he was transformed into a wreck of a human being. This was the last time she saw him.

The sister says:  “He was helpless in front of a trained armed men. Couldn’t they have tied him and carried him without torture or humiliation?  Couldn’t they have sent an official summon?  He fell several times in the apartment, so why did they drag him on the stairs and in the street? Why did they throw him so violently on the floor of their ominous car? How could they continue to torture him for three whole days?  Why haven’ t they let him go when the District Attorney ordered his release? What is the benefit to this journalist from the continuation of his torture despite the fact that his peer’s family cancelled its complaint, after being shocked of what had happened to Ahmed? Is this a punishment for Ahmed because he quarreled with someone who had a friend in the police force, or a punishment for all Egyptians?”

The brother of the victim, Mohammed Ahmed Tammam, moves from the Attorney to medical jurisprudence headquarters, from newspapers to human rights organizations, from telegram offices to post offices. He feels as if his brother’s soul is chasing him asking for revenge for his blood. He keeps asking why he did not receive any answer from the President and the Ministers? Why no one answered him? Why they did not punish the officer, transfer him or dismissing him from work?

The father was not in a better condition. Like the brother, he was moving everywhere putting forward complaints, even before burying his son. He could not believe that his son has been killed in that horrible way.

The mother said, “If I insisted on releasing him once the District Attorney ordered his release he would have been still alive. I saw him there. He was still alive.”

That was the condition of Ahmed family as we saw it: sleepless, silent and raising many questions about the fate of their son.   

Second Testimony: Monday, 19 July 1999, was a black day in Omranniya, a neighborhood in Giza. The streets were filled with fear and horror. People were asking an officer and his men in furor and horror “Are you ruthless. The young man is dying, let him go.” But these words made the officer want to further boast his power, so more blood has been shed from Ahmed, and the officer and his men became more violent with the young man.

Before that, a police force from Omranniya police station, led by Officer Arafa Hamza broke into Ahmed Tammam’s house. When they asked his older sister, who opened the door, about his whereabouts, she denied his presence out of fear. They said that he was wanted for a filed complaint of a quarrel with one of the neighbors. They went to the upper floor, which is owned by Ahmed’s family, broke the doors and searched the apartment. After a little while they came back with a bigger force, with a youth about the same age as Ahmed (the neighbor who filed the complaint) and Yehia Mohammed Youssef, who claims to be a journalist in Akhbar Alyom and who has police “connections”. When Ahmed’s sister denied his presence, the journalist told them to take her instead. When Ahmed heard that, he came out of his room to give himself in, but they did not give him a chance. The officer and seven soldiers, police assistants attacked him with all their might. Ahmed fell unable to move, but they did not stop the beating. He was then dragged down the stairs from the forth floor to the street. When Ahmed fainted he was thrown inside the police car. Ahmed was tortured all night in Omranniya police station. When he was presented to the District Attorney, he decided to release him with the guarantee of his place of residence. However, instead of being released he was taken back to the police station, where he was tortured again until he died on Wednesday, 21^st of July 1999.

The family was notified that their son died under torture, and the District Attorney ordered an autopsy. The Head of investigations of Omranniya police station tried, through a relative, to defer the family from autopsy, but the family refused, and burial was authorized on the following Thursday, after autopsy.

The police surrounded Um El Massreyyin Hospital where Ahmed’s body was, surrounded the mosque where the funeral was held and the graveyard.

Ahmed’s father had filed numerous complaints to the Minister of Justice, Prime Minister, General Attorney for Giza and the Minister of Interior on the same day of his son’s death and before his burial. The brother filed similar complaints the following day, and the family members went to Omranyya District Attorney office several times. However, the District Attorney did not open an official investigation to hear the testimonies of the family members before Thursday, 29 July 1999, i.e. eight days after Ahmed’s death. Why did the District Attorney not investigate the crime? Why did he not summon the witnesses of the incident.

The stumbling of the criminals: The police officer told the family that Ahmed had committed suicide in the police car. The police files say that no one harmed Ahmed in a way that could cause his death and that his death was a natural one and that the young man was in an agitated state, saying vague words. The police seemed careless to the fact that they had tortured Ahmed in public in front of members of his family, neighbors and passers-by.

The autopsy report was additional evidence that Ahmed’s death was a direct consequence of torture, and that the marks of torture were evident from head to toes.

Summary of the Autopsy Report:

Case no. 18262/ Omrannya, Ahmed Mahmoud Tammam, 21 July 1999, Autopsy report No. 34/99

1-     Congestion and bleeding spots in the outer surface of the left ventricle.

2-     Heat burns in part of the scrotum, matching electric shock.

3-     Bruises on the forehead.

4-     Bruises under the left eye.

5-     A bruised cut in the lower lip.

6-     Bruises in the back of the joint of the left wrist.

7-     Chain like bruises circling the right wrist in an incomplete circle.

8-     Some linear bruises in different directions in the left forearm.

9-     Several bruises across the joint of the knee and in the middle of the front of the left leg.

10-  Bruises in the middle of the front of the chest, across ribs number 4, 5 and 6.

11-  Doubtful elements in the scrotum and the testicles matching electric shocks.

Anatomical findings:

       ¨         Heavy bleeding in the scalp.

       ¨         Congestion of the blood vessels of the brain.

       ¨         Bleeding in the soft tissue of the face and the neck

       ¨         Bleeding in the chest across the surface of the injury described.

       ¨         Doubtful discoloration in the scrotum including the outside surface of the testicles.

       ¨         Evidence of burns in the scrotum

       ¨         Bleeding in the upper and lower limbs.

Conclusion: According to the congestion of the blood vessels of the brain and the bleeding spots on the outside surface of the heard, that we have seen, in addition to what was mentioned in the report of the pathology lab regarding the injury of the scrotum, the death was due to contact of the body with a bare source of electric current, electric shock.

It is therefore possible that the cause of death is as mentioned in the stories of the residents of the neighborhood on the date of the incident on 21 July 1999.

*****

Essam and Reda

Essam is an official in charge of child creativity programs in a nongovernmental organization. Reda is a student in secondary school. The date of the incident was June 2001, days before the final exams of secondary school certificate.

At one o’clock after midnight, a police officer and a police assistant, with two detectives head to Essam and Reda’s apartment. A microbus with several security people was stationed in front of the house. They asked about their brother, and were told that he was not at home.

Police officers went into Reda’s room while he was asleep and woke him up.  Essam told them that he was not the one they were asking for. Their sister, who is a lawyer, asked about the arrest warrant, but got no answer.

Reda was beaten to wake up. He was still in bed when the detective slapped him on the face saying: “wake up and talk to the chief”. He left his bed half-asleep and slapped the detective, and that was when the police started beating Reda, Essam, the mother and the sister. Then they arrested the brothers, took them out, beat them and dragged them in front of everybody in the street, all of whom were afraid to interfere. When one of the neighbors tried to stop one of the detectives from beating Reda with an iron bar on his head, he was rewarded with the same stick on his forearm. However, another neighbor managed to stop one of them from killing the sister. The policeman had both hands around her neck trying to strangulate her.

The arrested were led to Imbaba police station, where they were incarcerated in a 3x5 meter room with 92 prisoners. The brothers were told that they have been arrested as criminals and are registered as dangerous criminals.

Essam and Reda were tortured during incarceration by severe beating all over the body, especially the face. Reda was beaten with an iron bar on the lower left side of his neck. They were threatened with arrest on every police campaign until they leave the whole neighborhood.

Reda, whose physical state had completely worsened, was released upon the interference of a member of the People’s Assembly. Then Essam followed on the second day.

Testimony of the Physicians:

Essam: Bruise under the left eye. Red wounds surrounded by inflammation in the nose, cheeks and chin. Bruises in the shoulders, chest and back, some were red, others were in blue. Essam suffers from severe anxiety and depression.

Reda: Swelling allover the face, the eyelids, with black bruises all over. Scrapes on a large area on the lower part of the neck and the upper part of the left collarbone. Reda was sitting, looking to the floor to avoid looking at the physician, he was feeling shame, he was seemingly nervous. The physician noted from looking at his face and hands some nervous movements.

“He could not sleep, all of his body hurt. We are treating him by cold packs all the time. If he sleeps he wakes up in horror. Of course, he cannot study and he is strayed and weeping few hours before his exams” his mother said to the physician.

 “He could not see anyone. He was hiding his face with his hands while we were going back home lest anyone in the neighborhood see him, especially that everybody saw him while he was beaten in the street. I said to him ‘you are not wrong, it is their wrong’ but my words have no effect on him,” the sister added.

 “Me too, I have been beaten here in my apartment. There are bruises in my abdomen and hands”, the mother said.

*************

Hisham

Hisham, 36 years, is a truck driver. He filed a complaint to the Ministry of Interior and the director of the Legal Department of the Ministry then to the Presidential palace in Abdeen. In his complaint Hisham says:

 “On Friday, the 6th of November 2000, I was in a visit to my father who lives in Khairallah district, in Bassateen, a neighborhood south of Cairo, to attend an important event for my younger sister. I saw my brother in law, Ali, coming to my father’s house accompanied with two detectives who asked me to come out to talk to an investigation officer in plain clothes. I had learnt that they came to my house first and asked about me there. After a short discussion with the officer, he asked me to go with him to Helwan Police Station to question me for something, which I did not know!

In the police station, the same officer asked me about the people who helped me to transfer furniture to one of my clients in Helwan. I told him that I know them as they live in Mawardy area. The officer asked me to give back the lost things,  but I told him that I have no idea what he was talking about. Consequently, he began to beat me (afterwards, I learnt that his is a Major and his name is Bahaa El- Tahawy). He began to punch me in my face with both hands and ordered his men to take me to the so called (refrigerator room) where I was severely tortured: My hands were tied from behind and I was suspended from the doorframe. Then they put a full cement sack on my shoulders while I was still suspended for half an hour. Then, the officer put me down and ordered me to confess that I stole the furniture but I denied the charge and swore to the holy Quran that I have nothing to do with it. He was not convinced and repeated the same torture by replacing a gas tube for the cement sack. Afterwards, they took off all my clothes and left me totally naked while I was still hanging from the door. Then another officer called Mohamed put on plastic gloves and X began to severely squeeze my testicles. I screamed and wept but no one paid any attention. They enjoyed watching me being tortured. 

They removed my handcuffs and took me to another room where they poured cold water on my body while I was totally naked. They tied my hands to the window for almost two hours. Afterwards, I was untied. I put on my clothes and they ordered me to go with them. When I asked where, I was beaten again and one of the detectives said that they are going to take me for a trip.

The day after by dawn, I woke up to find my self in a place like a garden. I saw trees, an iron fence and soldiers. I did know where I was. They took my clothes off and I faced the same terrible experience again. My hands were tied up to a tree and my feet not reaching down the ground. From time to time detectives would pull my legs down causing me severe pain. Then they poured water on me again and again the officer squeezed my testicles with the plastic gloves in his hand. The day after, they untied one hand and tied the other to the tree and let me put on my clothes. One hour later, I was taken to a room with both hands tied to my back. There was a soldier on the door and I stayed until the morning after, when I was taken to Helwan Police Station.

During those 72 hours, I could not sleep and my family knew nothing about me. They kept asking about me until they knew my whereabouts but no one told them anything about my charge. My father went to the police station to discover that my name was not in the Police Station’s records. Finally, he knew that an officer called Bahaa El- Tahawy who was not at the Police Station at that time, took me. One of the detectives led my father to Bahaa’s address. My father managed to meet the officer’s barber and my father begged him to ask the officer to release me!!!!.

The following day, both my father and the barber went to the Police Station to beg the officer to release me since I did not steal anything. The officer’s reply was ‘I know that he stole nothing but I have to torture him maybe he knows who did it and this is my job’. Both my parents began to beg him and cry until he sympathized with them and released me but he kept both my driving license and ID and ordered me to come back to the police station the following day. When I went in time, he gave me the license and claimed that he lost my ID.

I left the police station but due to the severe torture I could not move both my arms as if I was paralyzed. Three days later, I went to the Department of Security for Cairo to complain of what has happened to me as an innocent citizen who was tortured for no reason. Colonel Khaled Ahmed Ref’at according to orders of General, Ahmed Zaki Abdul Badie, wrote the complaint.

I was referred to Ahmed Maher Hospital accompanied by a soldier. There, I was surprised to see that it was written in the report that I needed a medical treatment for less than 21 days.

Two days later, I went to Kasr El-Aini Hospital to have a check up and asked for the report, which stated that I had torn muscles, damaged veins and tissues in both arms and shoulders and needed surgery.

Ever since, I visited many doctors and I no longer have any money as I sold my truck and borrowed money. I have nothing to do except sell my furniture as my medical treatment cost around 50 L.E. a day. I have a family and my children are in schools. I don’t know what to do. I am a victim of a sadist police officer who enjoyed torturing me although there was no relation between us. I still ask myself: if I stole the furniture, why did he not report me to the District Prosecutor? Why all that torture without any charge? I don’t know where to go now?”

Mohamed Abdullah Jaber

Mohamed Abdullah Jaber, 19 years old, graduated from commercial secondary school. He died from torture in March 2000.

The victim graduated from Giza secondary commercial school and his degrees were good. He was exempted from military service because he is the only boy in the family. His father is a driver in the Cleaning Service; his mother is a housewife. He has a sister, who is a nursing student at Um El Massreyyin Hospital Nursing School. Mohamed’s family is poor, living in a tiny apartment in an allay in Moneeb area in Giza.

By Mohamed graduation, his family’s dream came true. He started his career by working as wall painter to help his father face the expenses of living and support his sister in her studies. He was the hope of his family.

A week before the feast in March 2000, Mohamed finished his work earlier and went back home, took a shower and put on his best clothes to attend his cousin’s engagement party at 6 p.m. But neither did he attend the celebration nor did he return home. Instead, he was taken to Giza Police Station and from there he was transferred to Um El Massreyyin Hospital. He was in coma as a result of an injury to the head. Um El Massreyyin Hospital referred him to El Dimerdash Hospital. Once he arrived there he died.

The officer in Giza Police Station, where Mohamed has been tortured, claimed that Mohamed hurt himself under the effect of Alcohol. Um El Massreyyin Hospital sent samples from his blood and urine to be analyzed in the Ministry of Health central labs. The analysis found no traces of alcohol or any other drugs.

The report from Um El Massreyyin Hospital documents the findings: cut wound in the head, scratches in the forehead, cut wound in the abdomen.

We knew nothing about the incident before until it was published in a newspaper a year later. We went to visit Mohamed’s family.

We met his mother. She was in her 40s, dressed in black. She was sitting in front of the house door with two other women. Once you see her you will recognize her: Sadness on the face, eyes are strayed staring at passers by, watching their steps down the street as if she is waiting for someone. She knew us and recognized that we want to meet her. She accompanied us to her modest home. She apologized that she was sitting in the street because she cannot stay at home alone.

 “I am sorry, I cannot stay at home alone especially during the day while my husband is at work and my daughter is in school. I cannot stay alone. Thinking of my son is killing me. I see him coming in saying, ‘mama, prepare  me my lunch”, she said.

She left us. Minutes later, she came back with a big envelope in her hand. She got some papers out and said: “This is my son’s certificate. He had just graduated. Look at his degrees. He was clever and polite. This is the certificate of his exemption from military service. He was my only son. I have only him and his sister. They took him from us. Mohamed Zakaie the investigation officer tortured my son. I saw my son in the office of the District Attorney. His body was covered with cigarette burns and marks of electric burns on his big toe, his testicles, head and clothes.” She did not finish her speech and went back to the same room.

Minutes later, she came back with a plastic bag in her hand. She emptied its contents on the floor. It was Mohamed’s clothes. “Look at this T-shirt. It was so clean when he went out on that day. These are blood spots. These are beating traces on the back of the T-shirt, many thumbs. Look at the trouser.” Then she started spreading his under clothes and she was referring to blood spots and tears. “I will not wash these clothes. I will not get rid of them, may be the autopsy would ask for them; these clothes are proof that my son has been tortured till his death.” She added.

After a while of silence she continued to speak: “After killing my son they tried to force my nephew to sign that Mohamed suffers from heart disease and in return they will agree on setting up a great funeral for him at their expense. The home is no longer the same. My daughter does not eat. She is always weeping. She is dreaming that it is doom’s day. She wakes up in horror. When she wakes up she still sees nightmares. She cannot study her lessons. All the time, she is strayed and writing brother on her books. He was his favorite and they never separated from each other. When she went to the hospital on that day, she did not know that her brother was in the emergency room of that same hospital. She hates talking about the hospital or her studies. His father became so nervous and quarrels with anyone. He is strayed and forgets everything. I always find him talking to himself. And me as you see. I am sitting the street all the time. I cannot eat anything. Maybe I am eating something in the evening when my daughter and husband come home. Since his death I am sleepless. I am restless.”

 “I lost any hope to revenge the death of my son. After publishing the story in the newspapers, my husband was summoned to the Security Department in Giza. The officer insulted him and threatened him if we complained. Mohamed Zakaie was there. Instead of being punished, he was promoted and transferred to the Security Department.” The mother said.

Days later, the father came to Nadim Center. He was thin, talking all the time, moving from subject to another without any connection between them. Then he turns to tell the story of his son: how he died and what happened after his death. His hands were trembling all the time. As he became more nervous and sad his hands trembled more.

“It would be less distressful if a car had hit him. But to die like that, why and how? We are poor people. That is true. But we raised our son in a good manner. He was polite”, the father said. The father can no longer work.

“I cannot drive. I am anxious. I am forgetful. I forget where I park the car.” He added then came back to Mohamed’s story. “I asked for an autopsy for his corpse. I applied to the Prosecutor General. He replied saying ‘They found a pistol with him’. I asked ‘from where, by God he has no weapon. He was going to his cousin’s engagement party.’ In the Giza police station the district attorney, Nasha’at Bey said ‘there will not be any autopsy, no matter who is asking for it. Has he any interest in that? And what is his relation with Haytham Sakr, the officer?” The father asked.

Again I asked him about himself saying, ”Do you sleep Mr. Abdullah?”

“Now I am sleeping better but with the help of the yellow tablets the physician in Kasr El-Ainy prescribed to me.” Then he moved as usual to Mohamed’s story. “They tried to bribe us. Once on the day of his death and then again two weeks later. But how did this happen? Is it because I am a poor man? Could I sell my son’s blood?”

The sister: “I do not study. Why should I study? There is no hope in life. Even when I am at school I get tired and weep. I cannot take care of my job. I weep when I see any accident in the hospital and I cannot control myself. I can do nothing but weeping. Even in the street. And if ever I laugh I feel guilty as if I made a mistake. I feel so desperate. I am sleepless, especially when there is an accident in the street.”

 “Tow months ago, there was a train accident and the injured were transferred to the Hospital. Since then, I dream of a woman with a black, long face and wide eyes who wants to pull me. Then I cannot sleep at all. But then I see also when I am not asleep. Day and night I am living in a nightmare. We are afraid to file any cases lest the officer or one of his friends could harm my father.”

*********

Ali Sayed Abu Sarie

Ali Sayed Abu Sarie, 12 years old, is a wall painter from Beni-Souif.

“On 2 February 2000, at 1:30 p.m. two people accompanied by a policeman came to the house. My father asked them who they are? They told him that they are investigation officers. They beat me in the apartment and put me in a mini van and blindfolded my eyes. They tied my hands. In the road they beat me on my head and my face with a sharp instrument. When beating increased I removed the blindfold and found that one of them was holding a nail cutter in his hands. When we arrived before a police station, they left me with the policeman and said they are state security officers.” Ali said.

When I presented in front of the officer, I asked him to file a report and send me to the hospital to be examined. He threatened me and asked me to sign a reconciliation document with a neighbor. He is an inspector in the Education Ministry, who wanted to force us to sell our house to him and he is somehow related to the officer. I was surprised to see him there while lieutenant Hany was threatening me either to sign or he will put me in jail. I signed because I was afraid of the officer’s brutality. Instead of releasing me he chained my hands to both ends of an iron door, tied my feet together and whipped my back. He insulted my mother and father and beat me on the head with a wooden stick several times then he kicked me in my genitals with his boot and I fainted. When I was regaining consciousness I heard an assistant officer say: ‘it is not my business, he is dying’.”

 “The officer feared I might be dead and pulled me. I screamed so he knew that I am still alive and beat me once more with the wooden stick. In the evening, they put me in a narrow room packed with prisoners. The prisoners sympathized with me when they saw my injuries. The officer threatened them when they asked him to refer me to the hospital.”

 “The next day, another officer came and an assistant officer volunteered to tell him that I am wronged and that I just happen to have a quarrel with a neighbor. The officer released me. On the road I fainted many times. My family took me to El-Wasta Hospital. They refused to accept me because I was beaten in the police station. I filed a complaint to the District Attorney and to the General Attorney.”

*****

Nabil Nimr Marzouk

Nabil Nimr Marzouk, 32 years, a cook and taxi driver. He came to Nadim Center and brought with him a file that included an expertise certificate from one of the big hotels proving that he was a first class cook from the 1^st of April 1984 till the 31^st of July 1989, that he has a good reputation and that left the hotel to travel to a foreign country. He also has a certificate from Kuwaiti Ministry of Defense saying that Nabil has taken the honor note for his honorable participation in the Desert Storm Battle.

“Three Kuwaitis were riding in my taxi and they asked me to hire a private car for them. They took a copy of my ID and gave me money to hire the car for them. I hired a car from an office in Ma’adi. Four days later, they traveled to spend the feast in a remote place. I spent the evening with them. I went back home and had a tranquilizing medicine. In the morning, a boy called me and said that the Hyundai car that was with me had been stolen and that it was found by the police and is now in Bassatin Police Station.”         

 “I went to the car owner, who accompanied me to the police station. We filed a report but the officer accused me that I was one of the three who stole the car. I told him that I have witnesses that I was at home; my neighbors and my wife and he could ask them. He refused and started insulting my mother and father and asked me to bring the thieves. I said ‘I know nothing about them and I cannot do anybody injustice.’ He forced the owner to annul the contract I had made with him to rent the car and accused me of stealing it.”

 “I went to the District Attorney after four days of beating, torture, insults and threats to bring my wife and hand her next to me. I was suspended with my hands tied behind my back and a stick put behind my neck for three to four hours. Then they let me “rest” for a while before they suspend me again. When they untie me they slapped me with hands and shoes and put off burning cigarettes in my body.”

 “In the presence of officer Hamdy El Nahry a detective raped me with a stick. The officer told him: He wants to act like a man? I do not want him to be a man.”

“I was sent to the Ma’adi District Attorney. The marks of the torture were still apparent. The Attorney released me and referred me to forensic medicine. However, the officers Hamdy El Nahry, Essam Khalil, Essam Al Azab and assistant officer Ismael as well as detectives Adel Zaki and Ramadan forced me to sign and put my finger print on a blank paper and sent me once more to the District Attorney, who extended my arrest for a month. I was not examined by forensic medicine.”

 “Ten days later, the officer told me, ‘How dare you complain against me. I shall refer you to forensic medicine but after all marks have disappeared. Now show me how you will benefit from forensic medicine.”

“On the eve of the Feast, we were about 90 persons sleeping on the floor and the soldiers were running all over us in their heavy shoes. Anybody who moans in pain was hit on the head. The cut the water from 8 a.m. until 12 midnight. The toilet also had no water. The cell was filled with garbage. I have seen how charges are fabricated against people. One of the men in the cell came because he was accused of stealing a car cassette. 12 further cases were made against him while he was in their custody. He would leave us, they make him sign a document and then he is returned again. Another came with only one charge and was charged with three more charges while in their custody. I can no longer work. They ruined my reputation. I borrow money to treat my daughter. I cannot support my family. Tell me what can I do? Should I steal or deal in drugs?”

Medical report: The Society for Integrated Services in Agouza (a model Center for physiotherapy) issued a medical report, stating that Nabil was suffering from injury in the nervous plexus of the right arm and that he has received 30 sessions of physiotherapy.

***********

Magdy Gamal

On the 24^th of November 1998, Magdy said:

“In the Security Department of Cairo, they suspended me from the doorframe. My hands were tied in chains behind my back. There were three men around me. One of them was pulling me from my right leg. Another was pulling my left one. The third was pulling at my neck and beating me with his fist in my chest and whipping me on my head for about half-hour. Then they put me on the floor and Captain Ahmed Fathy was jumping on my chest. Then they suspended me again. Torture continued from 4:30 p.m. until 3:00 a.m. All that time I was totally naked. They did not do with beating and suspending me. They whipped me in sensitive parts of my body. They also electrified me in the same places. Captain Youssef El Adl was beating me himself and was supervising my suspension.

“When I presented before the District Attorney to document the injuries, he referred me to the court. I was released only when my wife filed a complaint to the chair of the court and the Prosecutor General. Although my release was issued on 6^th of  February 1999, they did release me except on 22 February 1999. On that day Ahmed Fathy hit me with an iron bar on my face and then transferred me to El Sahel police station to be released from there. But the police station refused to receive me because I was 16 days late!!!”

Nadim Report: The patient suffers from complete paralysis of the left arm and severe partial paralysis of the right arm. He is despondent and suffers from lack of appetite, insomnia and suffers from flashbacks of his torture.

Tests of nerve conduction show evidence of brachial plexus injury in both upper limbs more severe on the left side.

*****

Sheikh Ahmed El Zainy

Sheikh Ahmed El Zainy is 83 years old, from El Bouha village, Daqahlya Governorate. The incident happened on 6^th of June 1996.

Though the incident happened in 1996, yet we still decided to publish it in this report in view of its seriousness and the seriousness of its implications regarding the brutality of the police force in Egypt.

The victim is an elderly blind man, 83 years old, who could not see who was beating him and could not stand without the help of a crutch. His son tells the story:

“It was midnight on 6 June 1996, when a police officer came in company of a regiment of soldiers to arrest the elderly man. The villagers gathered and asked for the reason of arresting an old and blind man in that way and in midnight. The answer was that he had to pay a fine of 50 L.E to the Agricultural Society. The villagers pleaded to the officer to postpone the matter till morning and they will pay for Sheikh Ahmed. The Sheikh himself begged them to wait until morning. But it was all in vain.

“The officer ordered his soldiers to take the Sheikh by force, so they dragged him on the ground and beat him with their heavy shoes and truncheons. All that happened in the presence of the residents. El Sheikh never saw the next morning. He died in the police car.”

The death certificate stated that the death was a result of total tear of the left testis resulting in reflex cardiac arrest and death.”

*****

Chapter 3: Torture of Whole Families in Incarceration

 

In chapter two, we talked about torture of individuals. In this chapter, we shall review some cases of torture of whole families that took place in police stations in Egypt. It is important to note that rehabilitation of a whole family is a complex and extremely difficult matter, esepcially if they have all been subjected to the same trauma.

*********

Banha Family, Family of Maha Mohamed El-Sayed

Maha (28 years) is studying journalism in a school in Banha City, about 30 km north of Cairo. The following are the testimonies of the victims, with no need for a comment.

Maha testimony: On the 5^th of February 1999, an investigation officer in plain clothes came to our home and asked about my brother. I did not know that he was an officer and asked him “who are you?” He said, “You will know who I am you b….” Then he insulted me, beat me and dragged me down the stairs in my home clothes, pulling me from my hair. My mother came down behind me. He pulled her too from her hair.

They took us to the police station. He kept beating us from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Then he made a report claiming that my mother and I resisted authority and that I possessed a knife and mother a stick.

The next day we went to the District Attorney’s office. First the officer met the prosecutor then we entered and there was a report prepared by the police station before him. We were released on bail of 1000 L.E. each. The officer took us back to the police station and suspended me from my feet and beat me. Then he sent us to custody in the police station.

The day after, he took us to the section of criminal investigation and identification, and then returned us to custody. At 4 p.m. they took us to another room upstairs next to the police informers’ room. Every now and then the officer (lieutenant Ahmed Jabr) would call for us and beat us again. He tortured me by beating me with a truncheon and a whip. He put electricity to my ear. While I was handcuffed he trampled with his shoes on my chest. It is still swollen until now. He called other people and beat them in front of me. He ordered my mother to kneel and kiss his boots. When she knelt down he kicked her in the face and head. He threatened to charge me with a drug case if I ever complained. While we were in jail they went to our house. They broke all electric appliances, my trousseau and burnt all my clothes. He told me: you planned to get married? We ruined your trousseau.

The prostitutes in their custody were not tortured. They were in a better shape than us. We were all swollen and full of bruises. Our clothes were ragged and dirty to an extent that made one prostitute feel pity and cry for us. When we were released, the officer told me that he would apply for a leave for me from school so that I do not go to work in that shape. He added: I do not want any complaints or noise.

Mother’s Testimony: There was an officer. He beat and insulted me with words I cannot repeat. When I told him I am old enough to be your mother, he would say: My mother? You b…. There was an informant called Mostafa. The officer would call him and say: Hassan, will you come to beat this woman. I would tell him this is haram my son. What have we done to you? Another officer came by the name of Mohamed El Sharabas. He took off his shoes and beat me with it on my head and all my body. I was trying to protect my head with my hand, and my face. The blow hit my finger and it broke. They beat me with their shoes and the whip> He beat my daughter in front of my eyes. I would try to protect her, they would insult and beat me. And she too. If she tried to protect me they would beat her. He would say: nobody should protect the other you …

I was unable to go upstairs because of the pains I was suffering. He whipped me to push me upstairs. When we entered the office, he pushed me in front of a wall. He was pulling me from my hair and pushed me against the wall. He was insulting me, saying, “what could I do to you, you.. You would not take my beating.” When we went to the identification division he kicked me, I tumbled and failed to stand up. Then he kicked my face with his shoe. I was bleeding from mouth and nose.

My sons had sent us food and covers. They have stolen them. We stayed without food or drink and sat on the bare floor for the whole detention period. I suffered from a heart crisis many times and lost consciousness. My daughter told me that the officer was insulting me and saying, “You shall die.” He beat an informant who tried to get me some medicine.

I lost appetite, I could hardly breath, I could not comb my hair because of the pain in my head and I could neither move nor touch my finger. I feel horror with any knock on the door. I cannot move from my place and cannot breathe. I cannot forget what has happened. They are taking any one of our relatives, neighbors or friends. They put one of our neighbors and her daughter in detention for one night. I cannot sleep. If I fell asleep I would wake up in fear. They became my nightmare. 

Testimony of a friend of the brother: Yasser (31 years) is a friend of Maha’s brother. He owns an advertising office. He said “Maha’ s brother was in my office when he answered a phone call. They told him ‘your mother and sister are detained in the police station.’ I went with him to the District Attorney’s office. When I went out I met an officer called Ahmed. He asked me if I have an identification card. When I showed it to him he took it and he beat and insulted me while he was pushing me into a police pickup. In the police station they took off my clothes and suspended me naked and beat me till the evening.

I was released on the same day when my brother, a high ranked officer in the armed forces, came to the police station. I could not go to my office. And when someone asked me about the injuries in my face I would say it is a car accident.

Medical Report:

Maha: Signs of whipping or something alike alongside the right leg with an angle and there were cicatrices surrounded by swelling and redness on the bottom of the leg. There was also a cicatrix in the front of the leg bottom with 2-centimeter diameter. There were many scars and blue bruises in on the bottom of the left leg. Swelling and bruises in the face near the eyes. Hematomas on the right eye on the upper half of the sclera. Psychologically there is Lack of appetite, sleeplessness, insomnia, permanent affliction and inclination for weeping. She has been diagnosed as suffering from “sever depression”.

The Mother: Swelling in the head skin and infiltration underneath the swelled areas that covers more than the half of the head. Swelling in blue under her eyes and on her upper cheeks as a result of old bruises. Swelling in the right shoulder muscles as a result of a big and old bruise with 10-centimeter diameter as well as catalepsy in the injured muscle. Swelling in the right thumb accompanied by inability to move. It seems it has been broken. Signs of bruises in blue and red on the right thigh. Hypertension. On a psychological level she is suffering from sleeplessness, insomnia, nightmares because of torture. She was diagnosed to suffer from post traumatic stress disorder.

*****

Zagazig Family, Family of Motawe Khalil

Captain Motawe is a retired military officer. He served in the Egyptian army for 25 years in infantry. He took part in the 1967 and 1973 wars. He is one of heroes who defended Egypt and were injured defending our freedom and independence. However, he and his family were victims of torture in favor of an owner of a bakery who quarreled with one of Captain Motawe sons.

Captain Motawe says, “The tragedy began with insulting, kicking and pulling me from my neck. An assistant officer kicked me with his boot in different parts of my body and pushed me into a car. In the same way they arrested my son Ayman; he is a civil engineer working in construction projects. They also arrested my brother-in-law; he is an inspector in the Ministry of Food Supplies. They also beat my mother-in-law (75 years) on her head and pushed her down stairs. So she tumbled.

When her son saw what was happening to his mother, he hurried up to push them away. He was violently beaten and arrested. In Zagazig police station 2, we were beaten with batons, kicked and whipped on the head, neck and back. They forced us to stand in one row facing the wall, our hands cuffed behind our backs. I was surprised to find out that they had arrested my son in the same morning. Apparently, he was beaten. They took off our shoes before an investigation officer. We were tied each two togehter. Baha’a, the officer, was before us. Behind us was Gharib, the assistant officer with three or four other detectives. Baha’a was holding a whip and he whipped all of us. He even beat my son, who suffers from epilepsy, on his head. He also beat my brother-in-law on the head. He is a war veteran and has a deformity. Yet this did not spare him the beating.

The health condition of my mother-in-law deteriorated, so they released her, then they released my brother-in-law, the inspector. My two sons, Youssef and Ayman, as well as another brother-in-law and myself were kept in detention. They put all of us in another room, called the execution room. It is full of chains fixed to the wall. They tied us and forced us to sit down while tied to rings in the wall.

The intelligence chief officer summoned me and asked about the whereabouts of my son who had quarreled with the owner of the bakery. At the same time, an assistant officer slapped me twice so that my head turned around. I saw the owner of the bakery and his son in front of me. Youssef, the assistant tied my leg to the leg of the desk, so I sat down on the floor. They took the rest of my relatives and family and mused themselves by beating them. They prepared police minutes for us and charged us with provoking a quarrel and resisting the authorities. They did not ask us about anything, only our Ids. They wrote every word in the police minutes and then forced us to sign or else we would be tortured again. They took us down to the cell and behind us was Gharib, menacing us. There the torture continued.

In the evening we went to the prosecutor, who decided to release us. The intelligence police refused to execute that decision until they find my son. We spent another night in custody and they released us at 1:30 p.m. on the third day. During that period they brought in another man they had arrested. They forced him to take off his clothes and to put his finger in his anus. The prosecutor and two other officers, Usama and Maged begged Gharib, the assistant to release us to avoid a scandal.

When we went back home, we found two informants in front of the house, and another two were in front of our apartment. Three more were on the roof of the house. They wanted to set up a trap for my son. When we entered the apartment, I found that everything was damaged. There was no place to sit down or to move. While we were at the station another police force came to our house, destroyed everything in the apartment and aggressed by wife and daughters.”

“There was a conviction from the District Attorney to the officer Baha’a Eddin Mahmoud Hussein of damaging the furniture of the apartment and Gharib and Youssef, the assistants for using force and violence. The minutes were sent to the public attorney in Zagazig who sent it to the public attorney of East of Delta sector in Mansoura. The latter sent the minutes to the public attorney and assistant to the Minister of Justice in Cairo. I came to Cairo to ask about the minutes and to know what they had done with the case. They told me that the minutes were sent back to Mansoura and that the case was closed. We were never informed that it was closed. With great difficulty I managed to photocopy the minutes. I sent them to our lawyer, to Al Ahali newspaper and submitted a complaint to the Minister of Justice and the Prosecutor General.

 “A week later, I came back to Cairo to ask about the fate of my complaint. The secretary of the Minister told me the matter does not concern us because it is not a court case. He referred the matter to the Prosecutor General and gave me the number of transfer. Then I knew that the Prosecutor General closed the case.

 “My fugitive son was arrested and detained for three months, before he was declared innocent and released by the Prosecution.”

*****

Alexandria Family, Family of Ramadan and Gomma’a

Atef: Atef was nine years old. As a child in that age he should be the pet of his family. He is expected to spend his time playing and having fun. However, Atef’s childhood was stolen from him. He was forced into adulthood, when he saw his own family being tortured. His father, uncle, mother, uncle’s wife, grandmother, aunt, even his young sister Bossy and young brother Hamada as well as himself were tortured.

We visited the family of Gomma’a Yehia in Alwardiany District in Alexandria after their release. We talked to the men, women and children, but Atef surprised us. He talked as if he were a mature adult.  He did his best not to weep. He decided to forget his pains and torture. He grew up in detention and learnt to be responsible especially when he saw his uncle totally disabled as a result of torture, unable to feed him self or to stand up and go to the toilet. Atef accompanied his uncle in custody. He was feeding him and helping him to go to toilet and alleviating his pains.

Atef is a child in family of 13 members; the youngest of them is a six months baby and the eldest is 75 years old. The whole family was arrested and detained for suspect of murder. That was in 1994 when a murder was committed in their neighborhood. The murderer was unknown. It was said that the murderer had a tattoo on one of his arms. The brothers, Gomma’a and Ramadan were arrested because one of them had a tattoo on his arm. Otherwise, they arrested the rest of the family to extract information and force them to confess. In one of our visits to that family listened to the following testimonies:

Atef: “I remember well what they did to me and my family. I remember their names, faces and places. They suspended me from the door by my hands, which were tied behind my back. They would suspend me for about 5 minutes then let me down to beat me with fists, feet and whips. They broke my teeth. Then they suspended me again and beat me. They wanted me to say that my father and my uncle killed the man whom they found in our neighborhood. They asked me to collect my mother’s hair and teeth from the floor.

Beating while we were suspended was collective. They tied Bossy, Hamada and me to hanging tool and whipped all of us. That was in Mena Al-Bassal police station. After that, we were moved to Labban, Karmouz and Gomrok police stations and the Ameriya camp. In all those places, we were tortured.

When the prosecution came to inspect the police station, they feared.  So they moved us to another police station. An informant came and accompanied my uncle Ramadan in a taxi and there was an unidentified officer with us in the taxi. They went to different police stations and every station refused to accept us. I remember well the Ameriya police station. They put my brothers and me in a room and put my uncle Ramadan in another room. I was allowed to go to my uncle to feed him and help him to go to toilet because he was unable to stand or move his hands.

On the night of the feast we were told that we shall be released. Ramadan asked for a slipper and I helped him to put it on. I thought he will be released with us, but this was the last time I saw my uncle. We do not know where he is. We heard that they sent him to the mental hospital. We do not know if this is true. We do not know if he is still alive or not. We are still searching for him.

Doua’a: “They suspended me from the door, laid me down on the tile and put a blindfold on my eyes. They beat me on my face and my teeth. They are totally loose now. They pulled me from my hair. It got filled with lice because of the dirt and lack of water. They were pouring kerosene on my head. It hurt me and burnt on my body and face.”

Aida:  They detained me from 6 of October 1994 to 6 of December 1994. I was released from the District Attorney’s office but they took me to Almafraza Police Station. They took all my clothes off, leaving me only in my pants. One soldier threatened that he will rape me and make me pregnant. All that happened in the presence of two officers. They were beating me with their fists from both sides of my face as if it were a football. I was bleeding from my mouth. I refused to eat anything. In fact there was hardly any food. Every four days they would provide us with some beans and bread. Even during the month of Ramadan. They suspended me for about five minutes. It was so painful. I cannot imagine what has happened to my brothers who were exposed to that for months.”   

 After releasing us, they sent a detective to summon me to the police station. I refused and informed the District Attorney who told me not to go. The day after the officer himself came and beat me in the street, pulled my hair and threatened me not to refuse his summon again. My children Hanan (9 years) and Mohamed (6 years) were sleeping and woke up in horror and shrunk in a corner of the room. Since that day they are both wetting themselves.

Fathia (75 years): “I was detained with them for two months. They beat me in my breasts. I did not change my clothes nor had a bath during all that period. Aya (6 months), Ramadan’s daughter was detained with us. When I washed her clothes they were ridiculing me.”

Fawzia: “They took us to Menya Al Bassal Police Station. There all forms of torture were used. Suspension from both arms with hands tied up from behind. Suspension from my hair. Whipping on the face and body. Burning cigarettes in my body. They were using electric shock on my armpits, on my breasts, behind my ear and between my thighs. Punching. Breaking teeth. Beating faces with their shoes. Kicking my hip. Whipping my foot. They cut my hair and broke my teeth and ordered my son Atef to collect my hair and teeth from the ground. They made me see my husband, Gomaa, while he was suspended and totally naked. They threatened to suspend me next to him. They violently squeezed my breasts. They also tortured me with “the swing”. My hands were tied together behind my back. Then they pass a stick between both hands and thighs and then they would hand the stick from both ends. They then beat and rotated me in that position.”

 “Food was every four days. I would sneak out in the night to see my children in another room. When I was caught the officer would torture me and tie my hands to the table. My health deteriorated and I was almost dying. They transferred me to the Mabarra Hospital and I had 6 bags of blood transfusion. 

 When the District Attorney came to inspect the Police station and saw Gomaa, they hid Ramadan, the children and me. We stayed for two days in the police pick up moving from one police station to the other. Then they sent us to Al Maamoura Mental Hospital In the hospital, we were separated and I did not see Ramadan since then. Two months later they moved us to Al Amereya camp, our hands tied in chains. I saw Gomaa and the children there. In Al Amereya they would put off the lights and wage fire and the officer would shout: beware of the fire, children. I would think they are burning my children. I would rush to them and the officers would receive me with beatings.

As to my children, Bossy screams if you talk to her, she talks to herself and wets herself during sleep, she wakes up in the middle of her sleep screaming, she no longer plays with her sisters or the children of the neighbors as she used to, she is always sitting alone. Atef moans all through his sleep, he too talks to himself and has night terrors. Hamada has become very nervous. He gets tantrums and cries a lot and if he sees a police officer in the street he runs away.

Gomaa:

“They found a mudered man in the neighborhood. Then they arrested all of us. The police was arresting everyone who had tattoo on his arm. They arrested me at dawn. They took off all my clothes, blindfolded my eyes with my under shirt and tied my hands from behind with my slips. During 63 days of torture I did not see Ramadan, my brother. I was hearing his screams and he was hearing mine. I saw them beating my children to force them to confess that their father and uncle killed the man. They hung me from behind and tied a gas cylinder to my legs to make a weight. They put a blindfold on my eyes. Beneath it they put small stones on my nose and cheeks and tightened and squeezed the blindfold so that the stones left scars on my face. They put wet cotton into my ears. My sensitive organs were exposed to electric shocks and were tied with a rope and they pulled them down. They put ice on my chest and put on the electric fans towards me while I was covered with ice.

“I was hung every day for 45 days. Some times I passed urine while I was hung. I was totally naked during all that period. They were putting my hands into boiling water till they were skinned. Then they put them in cold water. They were telling me that my brother confessed, to convince me to confess.”

 “I was about to die when the District Attorney came to the police station to inspect and they started to lighten up torture. Now, I am suffering from weakness in my arm muscles and their nerves. And I am suffering from chest allergy.”

Gomaa Medical Report:  Severe affection of motor and sensory functions in both arms. Evidence of a cut wound and surgical intervention involving 8 stitches in the upper part of the back. Multiple injuries on both sides of the forehead and the upper half of the nose. Asthma. Severe Depression.

******

Helwan Family

A whole family; grandmother, children and grandchildren, men and women have been tortured inside the Helwan Police Station to compliment a third party. They were tortured because of a dispute over a building owned by Mrs. Maha Ajamy to force them to give up this building in return of a small sum of money. There was a lawsuit before the court and no decision has been taken yet. The following is their story as it was told to physicians at El Nadim Center, lawyers at the Hisham Mubarak Center for Law, in addition to some excerpts from Al Osbo’o newspaper.

On Friday of 25 May 2001, members of Mrs Maha Ajajmy’s family gathered at the family house in Hamamat Helwan around their grandmother Rasmeya who is in her seventies. On that day Maha came with her brother Atef and his wife Lamia’a and their daughter Hana’a (3 years).  Sabah, the wife of Maha’s brother, Medahat, came also to the family house with her daughters Amira and Maha. The grandsons Amr (student at the computer institute) and Walid (secondary school student) were also there.

But instead of enjoying their family gathering that day, the doors of hell opened upon them. Suddenly, they heard heavy knocks at the door. They froze in their place. The police force became more violent. They broke the apartment door and the surrounding wall. Then Major Baha’a El Tahawy and his assistant Yasser El Shenawy entered with a police force from Helwan Police Station. Rasmeya, the grandmother, gathered her strength and walked towards officer Baha’a El Tahawy who violently pushed her. She fell on the ground and fainted. She was bleeding from her nose. The officer was too ruthless. He did not even try to know if the grandmother was still alive. Instead, he and his force insulted, beat and kicked the women when they rushed to the grandmother to see what has happened to her. They begged him. They told him that she is a cardiac patient and that she is on anticoagulant medication and that she might die. He could not care less. He continued assaulting and aggressing the women for caring for their mother.

Sabah thought the grand mother died and started crying. Major Baha’a El Tahawy moved towards her, grabbed her daughter, pushed her to the ground and pulled her from her hair. He pushed Sabah when she hurried to protect her daughter from him and pulled her too from her hair, dragged her to the street and pushed her into the police pick up. They did the same with the rest of the daughters.

The men were also tortured when they were arrested. They woke Amr up by beating him with an iron bar on his leg. They attacked all the men, beat and whipped them. They took off the clothes of one of the family members, forced him naked into the street and took him naked to the police station.

Inside Helwan Police Station, the whole family was tortured for hours. The officer Assem joined the “reception party” prepared by Baha’a El Tahawy and his assistant Yasser El Shenawy. He carelessly asked the officer so that the girls and women might hear: ‘remember the girl we seized and slept with and there were five of us?’

Sabah was terrified especially when Assem started to harass her and Lamia’a. Baha’a El Tahawy and Yasser El Shenawy moved towards Sabah. She held her daughter strongly in her arms. The officer ordered the girls to take off their underwear to watch their bodies. Sabah defended her daughters and begged him to leave the girls alone. She tried to kiss his hand, so that he would have mercy on her and the two little ones. He pushed her saying ‘do not soil me with your dirt’. He whipped her saying ‘You have to respect my shoe. Take off your clothes instead of them if you want to protect your daughters’. When Lamia’a tried to support her and ask her to resist, she received her share of torture.

They forced Sabah to lie down on her stomach. They lifted her clothes. They trampled her neck with their shoes and whipped her brutally on her legs and head. Yasser ordered Lamia’a to life her clothes so that he can see her body. She screamed for help and preferred to be whipped instead. He pulled her from hair and beat her viciously and insulted her.  Then it was Maha Ajamy’s turn. After tearing her headscarf and the top half of her clothes he messed up with her face and accused her of misconduct.

The women and girls were taken to the men’s custody. They were threatened that the male prisoners will rape them. And indeed they were detained with a number of men in what is called the “refrigerator”.

As to the men of the family, Atef Ajamy was chained to an iron window in the cell. He was flogged all over his body. They tied Walid and Amr from their feet, hands tied behind their backs and threw them face down on the floor. They were than flogged with thick electric wires. They trampled their heads with their shoes.

Everybody was deprived of water. Whenever one of them asked for a sip of water he would receive another round of whipping and insults. They would bring the water and pour it on the florr in front of them, then they would be forced to slept, once gain face down, on the wet dirty floor. The officer would then trample them again with his shoes and flog them with a whip.

The family was released at 11 p.m. except for Maha and Atef. They were threatened to be tortured again and that a drug case would be fabricated against them if they did not submit to the orders of the police officers of Helwan police station.

********

 

 

Chapter Four:  State  Violence

By state violence, we mean organized violence in which security forces raid a whole area like a village, neighborhood or a market in order to terrorize or punish the masses. Such measures are taken to suppress a mass protest, to evacuate a whole area to ‘enforce the law’ or following an arbitrary decree. Therefore, it is not considered an act of torture but a governmental decision, which is violently executed, where the government is the perpetrator of the violence.

In our last report (in the period from August 1993 till August 1997), we mentioned the events that occurred in Kafr El-Dawar town, about 200 kilometer north west of Cairo, where dozens were injured (nine of them lost one of their eyes and one lost both). Also, we documented the events of Port Said where border guards shot fishermen. In these events three people were killed and others developed physical and psychological injuries.

In late 1997 and early 1998, the state added a new crime to its organized violence record. It happened when it began to enforce Law no.96 of 1992 regarding organizing the tenancy relation in the agrarian sector. Such law came to existence after lengthily delays due to the objections of political parties and civil society organizations. The law led to the expulsion of millions of farmers from their leased lands, without giving them proper alternatives (lands or houses) and without any serious efforts to settle the relationship between tenants and landlords.

In many areas, landlords preferred to expel tenants rather than renew their contracts. On the other hand, farmers refused to leave the lands, which they had spent all their lives farming. As usual, the government took the landlords’ side and did not even give the tenants the chance to sue the landlords. Even when there were some cases already at courthouses, the government did not give tenants the chance to wait for the court verdicts. In addition, some of that land was given to farmers according to the Agricultural Reform Act according to contracts that allowed farmers to buy it in case the owner wants to sell.

Human rights organizations documented dozens of cases where security and Special Forces armed with weapons, tear gas and bulldozers raided villages, destroyed the crops and prevented farmers from harvesting what they farmed. Even when farmers escaped, once they saw security forces, women, children and elderly people were detained to force men to give up the and sign contracts to cede their lands. Such events occurred in Governorates of Qena, Sharqeya, Dakahleya, Giza, Fayyum, Gharbeya and Beni Suif. In its annual report of 1998, Amnesty International documented the violations that occurred by the security during the execution of the tenancy relation Act.

In the past four years, state violence did not only occur during expulsion of farmers in the agrarian sector. It spread to other areas for other reasons as was the case in the villages of Shindi in Gharbeya, Wakf in Buheira, Kafr El-Gamiya in Zagazig Sharkeya, and Elshal in Mansoura Dakahleya. Also, it occurred in the area of Karnak in Luxur and the residential area behind the Fever Infirmary Hospital in the governorate of Aswan.

In other areas we documented more violations from security forces during dispersing demonstrations and popular protests as in town of Belqas of Dakahleya and Menya and Meet Nama village of Qaluobeya where live ammunitions was used together with collective punishment against whole villages.

According to the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights’ press release during the parliamentary elections in 2000, the police took the side of the government candidates and arrested 400 of the supporters of other political parties’ candidates, most of whom were members of the outlawed Muslim Brothers group.

In this chapter, we will shed light on state violence in the village of El-Ziny, Menyet El- Nasr of Dakahleya and in Kota and Wali villages of Fayyum as examples. The documents contain testimonies of farmers and El Nadim center’s physicians. Such testimonies were documented during field visits done by Nadim Center physicians.

El- Ziny village, Menyet El- Nasr district, Governorate of Dakahleya:

One of the landlords reported to the police station that he sold his land but he could not hand it over to the new buyer due to the gathering of farmers (tenants) and their refusal to leave the land. Consequently, twelve security vehicles moved and broke into the village. Security forces began to shoot tear gas and broke into houses after breaking the doors. They collected all the food and children books and threw them into rill. In addition, they arrested around 90 men, women and children.

During their transfer, security forces began to beat the detainees, who were then also tortured in the police station with kicks, slaps, whips and batons. They were deprived of food and water. Security men poured water in the cells to prevent them of sleep. Furthermore, they shaved half of a woman’s hair and harassed a lot of women. A 16-years old farmer was hung from her hands and threatened by rape because she slapped the officer who tortured her.

Among the detainees were two 13 years old children, a high school student along with a pregnant woman who was pushed to the vehicle and the officer beat her in her back so violently to the effect that she lost consciousness and lost her baby. Policemen then threw her from the vehicle between life and death until people took her to the hospital where she was saved by surgery.

There was another woman, who had just left hospital after having a medical operation. She was kicked in her stomach where she had the operation, which led to a serious bleeding and infection in her wound. Most of the cases were suffering from difficulty in breathing, infection of the respiratory system, pains in stomach and all over the body in addition to psychological injuries. The following are some of the testimonies of the victims:

Fatma, high school student:

“I was punched while they began to arrest me and in detention and I was also flogged. They threw my books into the rill and we were deprived of food and drink. In detention, we were ordered to sleep on the ground without blankets. From time to time, they threw water on the ground to prevent us from sleeping and insult us in a very vulgar way.”

 “I have no appetite for food and I cannot sleep. I feel so scared and even if I could sleep, I always have nightmares seeing security men attacking us again. I cannot study and I could not get books instead of those, which were thrown into the rill. I missed this academic year.”

Kamilia:

“I was 3 months pregnant that day. It was my first pregnancy. The security officer began beating me with a big baton until I went unconscious. People saw him afterwards throwing me from the vehicle while I was bleeding. I woke up at Dr. Adel’s medical clinic in Menyet El- Nasr who treated me.”

 “I have no desire to speak to anyone. I became so nervous without any reason but I regret being nervous and blame my self for shouting at people.”

Ena’am:

“When security men broke into our house, I had a heart operation. It is my second medical operation. I had it just two months before the attack. I was still in bed, as I cannot move by myself. They pushed me from bed and dragged me on the floor. When I begged them to leave me, as I was so sick, they began to kick me with their shoes. I have chronic pain and medicine now is useless. I have pain all over my body, chronic stomachache and I am always vomiting. After beating me, they did not take me to the police station. I was almost dead, so they left me.”

Hafeeza (13 years old):

“I have a chronic headache, pain in my feet; I cannot walk and have no appetite. All night long I dream of security men. Even when I am awake, I see them coming to assault me.”

A comment from the mother: “She is always silent, stands still as if she is dreaming. Whenever I talk to her, she does not reply. For two weeks, she would suddenly wake up and cry.”

Iman (12 years old):

Mother says: “She wakes up crying. She walks during sleep with her eyes open. Whenever I talk to her, she does not reply”.

*****

Kouta and Wally villages, Abshway district, governorate of Fayyum:

From the documents of Land Center for Human Rights:

The general Authority of Agricultural Reform had a contract with Mahmoud Amin Wally in 9/6/1993 to enable him to restore 75 acres, which were confiscated and given to farmers since 1966. This land is distributed among 52 farmers. According to eyewitnesses from the village, state violence occurred as follows:

The Wally family began to harass farmers and as usual, security took the Wally’s side although the case was still in court. In October 1997, during the implementation of the agrarian land Act, security forces began to terrorize farmers. They raided their villages for five times, broke their doors, furniture and beating men and women.

On 4th and 6th of November 1997, 28 farmers were arrested to force them to sign contracts for the Wally family. Men and women were tortured by being hung from their arms, flogged and tortured by using electric shock. Also, they took women’s clothes off and sexually abused them. A lot of women were detained and kept in same cells with men. Everyone was deprived of going to the bathroom. Some of them went unconscious and one of them was an old man who had just from medical operation he had a serious operation. All of them forced to sign papers that they do not know their content under torture and because they were exhausted. Kouta village was under siege and phone cables were disconnected to prevent farmers from contacting any one. It was totally isolated. In addition to the normal types of torture, it is worthy mention that starving farmers out, burning their crops and demolishing the sol against them is another type of torture. Not only that, but farmers were forced to remove the dust after demolishing their crops with bulldozers.

Physicians of Nadim Center paid a field visit to the two villages to find dozens of elderly people with serious psychological and physical symptoms. They have neither food nor medicine. However, they did not complain only of torture, they asked for legal assistance and publishing in newspapers to restore their lands. They were also in a need of treatment for psychosomatic disorders, depression and posttraumatic stress disorder. These are some of the stories they told El Nadim.

Rabie, Wally village, 60 years, blind:

“I was taken to detention and there I was maltreated as if I was a criminal. I was forced to go to the fifth floor up and down without any rest. I was about to fall down. I was prevented from going to the bathroom although I have a urine bypass device in my body. I have a contract to rent 2 acres and according to it, if the land will be sold, I should have priority. In spite of that fact, I was forced to leave.”

Ramadan, Wally village:

“We were rounded up and handcuffed like criminals. Security forces occupied our lands while we were in jail. People were under siege, no communications, no bathroom, no food and no visits. Women and children were beaten and crops were destroyed. They were well armed with tear gas, armored vehicles and two canons. Both men and women were kept in the same cell.”

Haroon, Wally village:

“I am 80 years old and have a heart disease. I had a heart attack while I was in detention. They refused to get me a doctor nor even my medicine. I almost died in detention.”

Aziza, Wally village:

“I am 70 years old. I cannot see well and both neck and spine are in chronic pain in addition to stomach troubles. I was kept in jail for four or five days without any food. I was not permitted to go to the bathroom. I told them that I will not sign and when they threatened me more, I said God will never forsake me.”

Fawzia, Kouta village:

Fawzia lost one of her eyes a long time ago. She refused to come to Cairo to treat the other eye. She also refused to give any details regarding her torture. She was just focusing on restoring her land, she says:

“I was taken to the police station and was kept for one night. I was arrested again and security forces destroyed my crops. They warned us that if anyone crossed the bridge, he would be shot. I have 11 sons and grand sons. I can’t bear beating or being insulted. I do not care about my eye; I just want my land back.”

Faragalla, 76, Kouta village:

“I was detained although I had a medical operation just one week before. I was forced to leave my land. We were all beaten and tortured by electric shocks. They threatened me of damaging my eye. I was also punched and kicked. My son had to sign for them after such humiliation.”

Ahmed, Kouta village:

“At the police station, officers said that we should leave the land. When we refused, they let other men cane us like cattle. Last time in detention, I have been tortured by using electric shock. I do not know whether I signed or not but I was told by other detainees that I did.”

Conclusion and recommendations

Despite the fact that some of those accused of torture were prosecuted and judged, eliminating torture in Egypt needs more measures. Emergency laws, suspicion acts are still enforced. Electric shock devices are still available in police stations, jails and state security offices. Those machines are not bought out of the pockets of the officers. The Ministry of Interior installs them there. It is responsible to withdraw them.

The International Convention against Torture is still suspended in Egypt. In addition, procedural laws still prevent individuals from the right to directly sue those who committed crimes of torture. Therefore, we recommend the following:

§                                     The cancellation of the emergency law and all other related ACTS.

§                                     Activating the International Convention against Torture and the cancellation of any reservations on it. It should be treated as a domestic legislation and any other laws that contradict it should be canceled such as article 26 of the Egyptian Penal Code, which recognizes torture only “in cases of forcing the accused to confess”.

§                                     Cancellation of article 163 of the Egyptian Procedural Penal Law to enable victims of torture and their families to directly sue those who committed crimes of torture against them.

§                                     Enacting the delayed torture cases and reopening the closed files.

§                                     Confiscation of all torture devices from detention centers especially electric shock devices, which may lead to death.

§                                     Assuring the role of prosecutors to pay more attention to inspection on police stations and state security offices.

§                                     Maximizing punishment on torture crimes and detention without warrant.

§                                     The cancellation of the condition of recognizing the torturer in torture complaints,  as the victim is always blind-folded and charging those in detention centers with torture.

§                                     Cancellation of all legal restrictions that may obstruct the activities of human rights organizations and rehabilitation centers which should play their role in documenting and reporting on such violations in Egypt. In addition, allowing human rights activists to visit jails and detention centers.

§                                     Cancellation of any restrictions regarding freedom of information and access to the media regarding torture cases. Torture is a crime against the whole of society. Society has the right to know about it, monitor it know who is responsible for it.