Egypt police vigil for torture victim 'a publicity stunt'

Egyptian security forces held a vigil on Saturday to remember a man who died under torture in an Egyptian prison while critics dismissed the memorial as a publicity stunt.

MENA

4 min read

The New Arab

30 November, 2015

Torture by security forces has been frequently reported in Egypt [AFP]

Security officials in Egypt's southern city of Luxor held a vigil on Saturday to mourn the death of a civilian who was reportedly tortured to death by the police a day earlier.

The memorial was led by interior minister assistant Essam el-Hamali, local media reported, and was attended by police officers and recruits.

Security officers held up banners expressing Luxor police's support for an expansive investigation into the death of Talaat Shabib, a civilian who was reportedly tortured to death by Luxor police last week.

"Luxor police is completely willing to cooperate in the expansive investigations conducted by the public prosecution," the banners read.

"We will enforce the law on anyone proven to be involved in the assault against the deceased prior to his death, even if it was a verbal assault."

The prosecutor-general has opened an investigation into the case. A forensic team has been tasked with determining how Shabib died.

A video showing signs of torture on Shabib's body was released by his relatives and has been circulating on social media.

On Thursday, Luxor's public prosecutor ordered the release of 24 people who were arrested on Wednesday night following clashes with police outside al-Awameya police station.

It was at this jail that Shabib was detained prior to his death.

The vigil comes in a bid to improve the public image of Egypt's security apparatus amidst increasing incidents of torture and police brutality.

Hundreds of Luxor residents took to the streets on Friday to protest Shabib's death.

The angry crowd chanted anti-police slogans and demanded the removal of the chief of al-Awameya police station.

In a statement released shortly after Shabib's death, the head of Luxor's security directorate described the 47 year-old as a drug dealer with a criminal record.

The statement said that Shabib was arrested on suspicion of being in possession of narcotics.

Shabib's family denied the claims and said he sold papyrus at Luxor's ancient temples for a living, according to state-owned Ahram Online.

The vigil comes in a bid to improve the public image of Egypt's security apparatus amidst increasing incidents of torture and police brutality.

Meanwhile, the interior ministry said it was investigating a number of similar cases.

On Thursday, a police officer was detained in the Cairo suburb of 6 October City for four days pending an investigation into allegations of assault and abuse of power.

The officer is facing charges of assaulting a bus driver over a traffic dispute, as well as conducting a false arrest and filing a false police report accusing the driver of illicit drug possession.

A similar incident took place in the north eastern city of Ismailia on Thursday, when a police officer assaulted veterinarian Afifi Hosni before allegedly taking him to the police station and beating him to death.

The Ismailia security directorate said Hosni died from a stroke at the police station.

Hosni was arrested on suspicion of possessing and dispensing narcotics through his pharmacy, the directorate claimed.

Following the incident in Ismailia, the Veterinarian Union released a statement denouncing "the torture and death of Hosni" and called on the interior ministry to deliver justice in the case.

'Individual acts'

Major General Abu Bakr Abdel Karim, the assistant to the interior minister for media and public relations, has repeatedly stated that if any police officer found guilty of wrongdoing would be held accountable.

On Saturday, Abdel Karim described torture cases were "individual acts" of misconduct.

Twitter Post

"In any society with the least amount of humanity, and according to the United Nations
convention against torture, no exceptional circumstances whatsoever should be used
to justify torture."

Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former Egyptian Vice President Mohamed el-Baradei spoke out against the recent series of abuse incidents.

"In any society with the least amount of humanity, and according to the United Nations convention against torture, no exceptional circumstances whatsoever should be used to justify torture," he tweeted.

This was not the first time Baradei spoke out against police brutality.

In 2010, he led an anti-torture rally in Alexandria, calling for an end to the state of emergency that saw police torture and brutality go unpunished.

Article 52 of Egypt's 2014 constitution criminalises torture in all its forms, and states that it is "a crime not subject to a statute of limitations".

However, reports of torture by security forces continue.