مركز النديم لتأهيل ضحايا العنف والتعذيب

Those are your patients, handcuffed in your hospitals!

Ten Egyptian young men came to Nadim center.. they are among the tens of victims of the 6th of April in Mahalla Kobra city in the Delta who happened to be around or passing through the streets which witnessed the attack launched by the Egyptian Ministry of Interior forces against unarmed Egyptian citizens on the 6th of April, using tear gas, rubber bullets, clubs before delivering them to the police stations where they were subjected to torture, humiliation and detention awaiting their trial, which is ongoing until the date of writing this statement. This statement is not about the trial which involves some of the best and most committed human rights lawyers of the committee for the defense of Egyptian demonstrators. We shall not use it to condemn the police violence which has become a constant component of Egyptians' daily lives in harmony with the brutal policies adopted by the Mubarak regime and implemented with determination and all disregard for the by its Minister of Interior Habib el Adly.

In this statement we do not address the Minister of Interior, it is an open message to the Minister of Health whose hospitals have become an extension of the ministry of interior.. where doctors seem to have adopted the role of police officers; where the ethics of the medical profession seem to have given way to the code of conduct of the police and state security men.

Torture.. A Crime against Humanity

• Saturday 18 October: Complaint to the Public prosecutor

• Sunday 19 October: Press Conference

The undersigned organizations will submit a complaint to the public prosecutor on Saturday the 18th of October at 12 o'clock against the Minister of Interior concerning the increasing torture incidents, especially in Alexandria and Samalout. A protest rally in front of the Court of cassation will be organized at the same time.

On Sunday the 19th of October the organizations will organize a press conference at the Hisham Mubarak Law Center (1 Suk El Tawfikeyya street) at 12 o'clock to announce their joint position concerning torture in Egypt and the actions they will undertake to face those police crimes. The conference will also include testimonies of some torture victims and their families and will launch a new publication: Torture: A crime against humanity, by researcher Atef Shahat. A CD with testimonies and pictures will be distributed during the conference.

Signatories (in alphabetical order)

A year after the death of Mohamed Goma’a Al Dahshoury, after being tortured in Fayoum Police Centre the first hearing in the trail of Police Officer Mo’ataz Abd El Mangy Abd El Monein will start on 9 September 2008.

The incident dates back to 17 August 2007 when a number of police officers arrested the victim and took him to the Police centre after an altercation.

In the Police Centre, according to witnesses, he was assaulted and beaten up until he lost consciousness, he was subsequently carried out by two men and left on the pavement outside the Police Centre. His brother found him on the pavement at around 1:00 AM on 18 August 2007. He was taken home but did not get any better so he was moved to the hospital but the hospital refused to admit him. He was only allowed to enter the hospital after his family agreed to say that he was injured during a fight and that they do not know who he was fighting with and they made an official statement saying so and got the victim to sign it.

He was released from the hospital on 22 August 2007 and he continued getting treated privately but his situation got worse. He went to a doctor who told him that he must go to Mecca Specialist hospital because he has internal bleeding and a concussion. On the 2nd of September 2007 he was admitted to the hospital and it became clear that, in addition to the aforementioned injuries, he had abdominal rigidity.

He passed away on Wednesday 19 September 2007.

Another official report was made by the police (number 22210/2007), which states that the victim sustained these injuries because of a fall down the stairs.

Witnesses say that the deceased identified two police officers; Mo’ataz and Osama of Fayoum Police Station as the men who assaulted him.

Ismailia Criminal Court will hear the sixth session in the case of the torture of Adel Mahmoud El Sha’er against the director and deputy of Investigative Services of Ismailia Police Station 2.

During the first session on 23 April 2008, the people who accompanied the defendants provoked the victim and questioned his mental faculties while taunting him. They also joined forces with a large number of security agents and secret police and surrounded the El Nadeem Centre lawyers and prevented them from leaving the court room and threatened to kill Adel El Sha’er. The following day the court issued the postponement of the trial to 17 May 2008.

During the session of 17 May we were surprised by the defense’s request to look at the victim’s medical file among other requests. The court refused all the other requests with the exception of the request to see the medical file which had not reached the court at that date and for that reason the trial was postponed. It was postponed many times over the past few months.

We are suspicious of the defense’s insistence on viewing medical files that precede the date of the incident, even when the Decepartment of Forensice Medicine indicated in its report that the victim’s injuries coincide with his story of the incident in terms of time and details. It is his injury in his left ear that has caused a loss of hearing of up to 80%.

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