Torture and coerced confessions in Egyptian terrorism investigation
Egypt, Politics, 12/11/2007

"A high-profile terrorism case announced by the Egyptian authorities in 2006 was likely based on torture and false confessions," Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

Human Rights Watch found that the Egyptian authorities had little or no evidence for their striking allegations. "Instead, the evidence indicates that Egypt's State Security Investigations (SSI), the country's domestic intelligence agency, subjected the detainees to torture and other serious abuses. And, although government prosecutors in mid-2006 dismissed all charges against the 22 detainees, many remain in custody nearly two years after their arrest," the organization said.

"The Victorious Sect arrests demonstrate how the State Security Investigations uses torture and arbitrary detention to make people confess to crimes real or imagined," said Joanne Mariner, terrorism and counterterrorism director at Human Rights Watch. "Despite the SSI's long record of abusive conduct, SSI officers responsible for abuses are rarely held to account."

Human Rights Watch said " that authorities arrested the 22 men in February and March 2006, well before their detention was announced in April. For those first weeks, the men were held in incommunicado detention in various SSI facilities around Cairo, including Lazoghli, the former SSI headquarters. It was during this initial period of detention that the worst mistreatment occurred."

As one of the 22 detainees said: "(SSI) transferred us to Lazoghli for a taste of systematic torture... we were beaten up with fists and sticks, and kicked around. (SSI) used electricity on different parts of the body, including sensitive areas."

A former detainee of the SSI told Human Rights Watch he heard a number of the men being interrogated at an SSI facility in Giza: "What I heard was not just torture; it was beyond imagination," he said. "You cannot imagine how harsh it was to hear that, the screaming, how harshly they were tortured... I heard some of them screaming when they were being electrocuted. I could hear the electricity too, the 'zizzzt, zizzzt.'"

Previous Stories:
  Jailed blogger tortured after uncovering case of corruption inside prison   (11/14/2007)
  Egypt efforts to reach national reconciliation, stability of Iraq   (11/14/2007)
  Egyptian contacts with USA, EU on peace conference's preparations   (11/14/2007)

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