Egyptian Interior Ministry Acknowledges Police Torture Cases

Egyptian Interior Ministry Acknowledges Police Torture Cases

The Assistant Interior Minister for legal affairs acknowledged authenticity of torture cases mentioned in the third annual report of the national council for human rights.
 
Major General, Ahmed Diaauddin, the Assistant Interior Minister for legal affairs, acknowledged the authenticity of some torture cases inside prisons and police stations included in the third annual report of the national council for human rights.
 
However, he denied the authenticity of some international groundless reports which have on real basis but are declared by some human rights organizations in Egypt .
 
Diaauddin confirmed, in front of the Human Rights Committee in the People”s Assembly, that the Interior Ministry took the initiative and referred many cases to the public prosecution, although there are reports that the public prosecution is doing so under pressures of the media that covered some of these incidents.
 
Counselor Edward Ghali Al-Dhahaby, the head of the committee, quoted what was mentioned in the report of the national council for human rights around tortures in Egypt, describing this condition as “a phenomenon”; the assistant interior minister commented, saying:” “phenomenon” means that the Interior Minister is meeting with his assistants everyday to lay down rules for torturing in prisons and police stations, which is totally groundless; he pointed out that drawing a comparison between the number of torture cases and the number of people dealing everyday with the security services doesn”t lead to a rate that may make us describe torture as a phenomenon.
 
Diaauddin  confirmed also that the Interior Ministry doesn”t only refer torture suspects to the public prosecution, but it refers them also to a disciplinary trial whose punishments reach firing like what happened with the officer who beat citizen Amgad Mokhtar and his wife on Hurghada road; he was fired within a week after the incident took place because he crossed the normal limits of his job as a policeman.
 
The Assistant Interior Minister tried to justify some torture cases, saying there are some individual mistakes committed by some officers under the pressure of work while studying some cases; he added that ill-intentions shouldn”t be assumed although this is not a justification for committing mistakes.
 
The assistant minister said that a human rights subject is taught in the Police Academy for years, and he demanded MPs to immediately report any torture cases whatever their dates is because this crime isn”t dropped over the passage of time.
 
For his part, MP Saad Al Husseini said that the statement of assistant Interior Minister is a complete recognition that torture crimes are committed inside prisons and police stations.
Al Husseini pointed out that Assistant Interior Minister”s attempt to justify these exercises be calling them individual cases are not reasonable because more torture cases are revealed everyday and in various places to confirm that torturing has become a policy which policemen are continuously using in their treatment with citizens.
 
Al Husseini demanded the Interior Ministry to take severe measures, not just Disciplinary Boards, against those accused of exercising torture in prisons and police stations.