مركز النديم لتأهيل ضحايا العنف والتعذيب

Excerpts from the testimony of a survivor held in Madinet Nasr SSI headquarters:

They handcuffed me for 60 continuous days, even when I was asleep.. they locked me up in a cell, about 30 meters underground.. the officer told me: nobody knows you are here except the minister of interior.. as soon as I entered the place I was met by a reception of abuse that would shame anybody to hear.. they swore at my mother and myself with the most obscene words.. they accused me of several things,, stripped me of my clothes and then ordered me to put them on again.. they handcuffed me again and tightened the blindfold than said from no you are number 2.. forget your name.. they gave me the instructions to follow while I am there.. then they called one of the soldiers and told him get him two blankets and chose them full of fleas and lice.. they brought them.. they also allocated my space.. an area 1.5 m x 60 cm.. where I would put my blanket and sleep while still handcuffed and blindfolded day and night.. I was not interrogated for 7 days.. we were handled by the sergeants.. slapping, kicking, beating with the shoe on our face and we were made to stand for prolonged periods of time that could last 40 continuous hours.. we would hear the numbers being called out.. from 1- 89.. we would hear the screams of the victims days and night.. then the interrogation began and with that the electric shocks.

(from Madinet Nasr file.. to be published)

3 July

1. A lieutenant aggresses El Shorouk correspondent, verbally abuses him and beats him while covering an accident. The officer was informed of the nature of the correspondent’s profession but continued his aggression. (El Shorouk newspaper)

4 July

1. Blogger Amr Salama, author of the blog “Lessa Aish,” was arrested because of his coverage of electoral developments.  His last posts to Facebook before his arrest were the following: “After the National Democratic Party canceled elections in Sharqeya's Haheya district, in blatant disregard of court orders, I went to the Abu Kabir and Faqous districts – the most contested in Sharqeya.  I took photographs from inside polling staff headquarters, where they sat eating kofta and kebab and forging votes on election ballots for the NDP candidates in Abu Kabir.  Freedom for Amr Salama” (from Facebook).
2. From a letter: “Dear Residents of al-Fint village, al-Fishan Center in the Beni Suef governorate. Allow me to introduce myself: I have received advanced degrees, having completed a degree in philosophy and a master's degree from the Faculty of Literature at Cairo University.  Nevertheless, I am an Egyptian with little future, and am threatened by injustice, lies and slander.  On May 31, 2010, I was on a microbus in my village, al-Fint, heading toward al-Fishan to spend the night with one of my relatives.  Ramy Atef, an officer with the al-Fint police department, blocked my path.  He tried to take me from the microbus, and when I asked him why, he said, “get down,” and shoved me down on the back seat.  Then he threw me off the microbus and beat me with both his hands and feet, cursing and screaming insults.  He had   several officers from the al-Fint police department with him.  They took 1500 pounds from me, my ID, and two mobile phones.  He warned: “I took nothing from you,” then handcuffed me and took me to al-Fashin, where he beat me, cursed me and tortured me in every way possible.

1 May
1. General Ismail El Shaer, first assistant to the Minister of Interior, sends a warning to independent MPs refusing their request to organize a peaceful demonstration demanding political reform. The demonstration was planned to head to parliament to submit the demands to the chair. In its refusal, the Cairo security directorate states that within the current security situation such demonstrations and protests may lead to disruption of public security in the capital and obstruct traffic to the disadvantage of citizens interests. The security directorate held MPs responsible for any breach of its orders. (EL Masry El Youm)
2. The detention of 8 members of the Muslim Brotherhood was renewed for 15 days. They are charged with belonging to a banned group and possession of books and publications that advocate the ideology of the group. (El Shorouk)
2 May
3. Security forces close Hussein Hegazi street in advance of the workers' protest demanding the court-ordered minimum wage.
4. Security forces blocked downtown in preparation of the 3rd of May demonstration by MPs and representatives of political parties. A security source told Al-Masry al-Youm that the demonstrations will be stopped, even if force is required to do so, especially since “they have been warned.” The source added that security forces will be spread throughout Midan Tahrir, through Magis al-Shaab and Qasr al-Aini streets, and in front of the Omar Makram Mosque, and that demonstrators would be dealt with severely.

“Police treatment of citizens in Egypt is some of the best in the world.  It is a far cry from what is circulated in some of the media outlets, which merely want to incite confusion on the Egyptian street.” 

     -- Dr. Nadia Makram Ebeid
Former Minister of Environmental affairs and member of the “Police and the Egyptian People” Association

1 April

This month the Association for Freedom and Expression observed an escalation in violence by security personnel and of arrest campaigns against Egyptian university students and their families. During the period of February 24th - April 15th 2010, the Association observed a massive number of student arrests, resulting in the incarceration of approximately 70 students.  Some of these students were kept in detention for a period of four days; others had their incarceration renewed for a period of fifteen days after the initial four-day period.  Summons were also issued for 11 engineering students from Munifiya University, and there were 50 cases of students subjected to investigation and referred to disciplinary boards.  These cases resulted in suspension of the students from university for periods varying between one week to two months, and to the permanent dismissal of four students from their university (University of Fayyoum).  A number of students sustained injuries as a result of the security apparatuses' intrusion of Egyptian university campuses.  Students were subjected to persecution by security personnel at the following universities: Alexandria University; Munifiya University; Al-Azhar; and Monsoura, Zaqaziq, and Ain Shams universities.

These attacks by security personnel resulted in the detention and imprisonment of 70 students, the investigation of 30 students, temporary suspension of 13 students for a period of two weeks, the permanent dismissal of 12 students from their universities, and four cases being transferred to disciplinary boards.  Finally, seizure and summons orders were issued for 11 students from the Menouf engineering department.

18 February
Moharram Bek police station – Alexandria: Beating and physical assault to a father and five women, threatening one of them with rape. A new torture incident in Alexandria, this time committed by Mohamed Omran, chief of intelligence at Moharram Bek police station. Persecuted and aggressed by Omran a whole family is threatened by displacement and homelessness. The father, in his seventies and the mother in her sixties and a daughter in her fourth decade were beaten and dragged along the street by more than 15 informers and three intelligence officers led by Mohamed Ragab before they are taken to the police station and falsely accused of resisting authorities.
 
19 February
Although 16 days have passed since the court order to release Ahmed Doma, he has disappeared from the Arish II police station. When his friends asked about his whereabouts they were told that he is being held at SSI headquarters. Blogger Ahmed Doma, civilian, was tried in front a military court and sentenced to one year in prison and a fine of 2000 LE upon his return from Gaza. He had gone to Gaza during the war in solidarity with the Palestinians and had contributed to relief and rescue work. Lawyers of the blogger had submitted a complaint to the public prosecutor against a number of officers and draftees at Khalifeh police station accusing them of torturing Doma physically and psychologically, where he was insulted, beaten by a club, and suspended for long periods of time resulting in injuries and bruises in his body in addition to a possible fracture of his left arm. The complaint requested that Doma be referred to forensic examination.

20 February
12.30 gathering in front of the office of the public prosecutor to demand the release of Ahmed Doma and Ahmed Kamal and the investigation of the torture of Doma in Arish II police station.

21 February