Detained Sudanese refugee at risk of torture, says NGO

Sarah Carr
2 Min Read

CAIRO: A Sudanese refugee currently being detained by Egyptian state security is at risk of torture, an NGO said on Tuesday.

The Center for Contemporary Sudanese Studies says in a statement that Adam Yahya Abdallah Khalil, known as Adam Houly, was taken to a state security facility in Giza from the El-Takhsheeba Prison (a police station in Giza where non-Egyptians are commonly detained) on Sunday.

The Center for Contemporary Sudanese Studies says that Houly had been taken to the El-Takhsheeba Prison from the Qanater Prison in El-Qalyoubeya ahead of his deportation back to Sudan. The deportation order was quashed after pressure by Egyptian and international rights groups.

Houly and others were tortured nine months ago in prison, the statement says, alleging that Egyptian and Sudanese authorities put pressure on him to sign a document testifying that he had not been tortured and that he agreed to being deported back to Sudan. Houly refused to sign the document.

“It is probable that Egyptian security bodies are again exerting pressure on Houly or torturing him all over again,” the statement reads.

According to the Sudaneseonline.com website, 35 year-old Houly — a refugee rights activist — was arrested at midnight on Dec. 31, 2009 at his home in Ard El-Lewa, Giza by around 20 security officers in front of his wife and children.

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Sarah Carr is a British-Egyptian journalist in Cairo. She blogs at www.inanities.org.
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