Prosecution summons officers accused of torturing detainees

The Beni Suef public prosecutor on Monday summoned a number of officials from Beni Suef security to investigate complaints that they tortured Islamist detainees. Complainants also accused State Security Investigative Service (SSIS) officers Sharif al-Sayed and Hisham Fawzi of arresting several citizens without warrants and torturing them.

Prosecution referred the complainants to forensics to be examined for signs of torture.

One, Salah Ismail, accused Sayed and a colleague of “arresting me on 29 November 1995 and torturing me for a period of one month.” Ismail alleged that they “broke my teeth and electrocuted me.” Ismail went on to say that following the month of torture he was sent to the Wadi al-Natron prison without trial and released 8 years later, in 2003.

Earlier this month, the Islamic Jihad and Jama'a al-Islamiya movements announced intentions to prosecute SSIS officers who were involved in torturing their members in Egyptian prisons since the 1980s.

A number of formerly detained Islamists said that the mental and physical torture they were subjected to included rape, both of themselves in prison and of their families outside. Members of the Islamic Jihad movement said that some members were killed both inside and outside prison, while others became psychologically ill as a result of extreme torture.

Translated from the Arabic Edition