Amnesty international urges Egypt to end torture

Amnesty International on Thursday urged Egypt to take immediate measures in order to end use of torture, saying that it has reports that clearly show the systematic torture in the country.

The organization said that the reports of the Egyptian and international human rights organizations show clearly the practices of the Egyptian authorities of torture, adding that the authorities ignored to a great extent appeals addressed to it by these organizations.

The report explained that cases resulting from torture and bad treatment including deaths in detention still remain, adding that the organization received information about the death of 7 detainees in 2002, with torture as the main reason behind their deaths.

Amnesty International welcomed Egypt's detention of several policemen and prison officers in 2002 over torturing detainees to death, but added that most of the cases do not reach the judiciary because investigations are not done properly.

The UN assistant secretary general and the director of the UNDP's Arab office had criticized the conditions of freedoms in the Arab states, noting that certain Arab states use the war against terrorism as a pretext to oppress freedoms.