In the early hours of Friday morning a doorman, his wife and their two children were arrested in Nasr City and they claim they have been tortured in the police station.
On Sunday evening the family were awaiting release from the police station after their bail was paid. This follows a complaint made by a policeman against the family on the grounds that they obstructed his work.
Hend Nafaa, co-founder of the Nation without Torture campaign said “the policeman attempted to enter a building and the doorman stopped him because he was under orders by his boss to not allow anybody in to the building after midnight.” Nafaa continued, “the policeman went away and returned with some of his colleagues and arrested the doorman and his family.”
Nafaa says that the family claim they were taken to the police station and tortured. She said, “the family are still in the police station because the policeman has filed a report to the attorney general claiming that they resisted him.” As a consequence of this the family had to pay a bail fee of EGP 500 and were set to be release later on Sunday night. Nafaa reported that a lawyer from the Hisham Mubarak Centre for Law was at the police station to assist the family.
These allegations of police torture come the day after the assistant Interior Minister for Legal Affairs, Abdel Mawla announced a change in police ideology in order to make human rights the foundation and goal of the force, according to state news agency Ahram.
Last week Mostafa Abdel Maguid went missing and appeared later the same day showing signs that he had been tortured. Due to his psychological state it was unclear who had tortured him. Abdel Maguid had previously been picked up by the police in August and he claims that he was abused and raped whilst in custody.
The El-Nadeem Centre forRehabilitation of Victims of Violence and Torture published a report outlining cases of torture carried out by policemen during President Mohamed Morsy’s first 100 days in office. The report included 88 different incidents of torture carried out by police that occurred in police stations and peoples’ homes. In addition the report also documented 34 deaths as a result of police using firearms or methods of torture in police stations.
