HRW report that warns of a “torture epidemic” in Egypt

[DJKeefy]

“We Do Unreasonable Things Here”

Torture and National Security in al-Sisi's Egypt.

Since July 2013, when Egypt’s military overthrew the country’s first freely elected president, torture has returned as the calling card of the security services, and the lack of punishment for its routine practice has helped define the authoritarianism of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s administration.

Al-Sisi’s pursuit of political stability at any cost has granted the country’s chief domestic security institution, the Interior Ministry, a free hand, perpetuating the same abuses that fueled the 2011 uprising.

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The Interior Ministry’s regular police and its National Security Agency have used widespread arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, and torture against perceived dissidents, many of them alleged members or sympathizers of the Muslim Brotherhood, al-Sisi’s primary political opposition. The Egyptian Coordination for Rights and Freedoms (ECRF), an independent human rights group, has identified 30 people who died from torture while being held in police stations and other Interior Ministry detention sites between August 2013 and December 2015. In 2016, the ECRF reported that its lawyers received 830 torture complaints, and that another 14 people had died from torture in custody.

Read more: https://www.hrw.org/report/2017/09/05/w ... isis-egypt

[John Landon]

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[newcastle]

Interesting.

I thought HRW's website was blocked in Egypt following this report....but it doesn't seem to be.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egyp ... SKCN1BI310

The problem is the Report consists solely of unverified statements by anonymous "victims"....no independent medical corroboration etc.

Whilst I can understand why this might be so, the result is that the Report is unlikely to sway those who are inclined to take the Egyptian State's denials at face value.

And a not-inconsiderable number of Egyptians are prepared to turn a blind eye to anything suffered by dissidents or MB supporters, whether legitimate or not.

[Major Thom]

Is this new or is it the media finding out what most people know? I would have thought that its time for ex pats, (Sorry Tourists) to start thinking of a move. There is a way of doing it on the cheap, keep all the horrible reports, try and find a hotel that will believe in by the fact Egypt is unsafe, get them to sponsor you, for your escape. Get to the hotel stay a few weeks until you can get other accommodation then walk out the hotel without paying the bill, with the promise you will pay them! You may also get some form of financial help from a Christian Society. Easy really. Just a thought!!!

[carrie]

Quite right Newcastle.