28 October 2015

Egypt: Secret Detention and Torture of a Father And His Son in Nasr City

Nasr City 1st Police Department Nasr City 1st Police Department YOUM7 (Archive)

On 27 October 2015, Alkarama sent an urgent appeal to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture (SRT) regarding the arrests, in September 2015, of Magdy Ahmed Abdelmoaty El Husseini and his son Ahmed Magdy Ahmed Abdelmoaty El Husseini, by the General Investigations Services. Secretly detained for five days, the two men reported having been repeatedly tortured by officers before being charged with "affiliation to a banned group" by the public prosecutor and brought back to Nasr City police station where they remain detained to date and at high risk of torture and ill-treatment.

On 17 September, while 62-year-old Magdy and his 30-year-old son Ahmed were at home with their family, members of the General Investigations Department and the Homeland Security, dressed in civilian clothes, raided their apartment located in Nasr City, in the outskirts of Cairo. Without showing an arrest and search warrant, they searched the rooms while an officer prevented Magdy from moving. After confiscating his phone, they dragged him out of the apartment, along with his son and left for an unknown destination.

Having not heard from them since their arrest, on 19 September 2015 their family sent telegrams to the General Prosecutor, the Ministry of Justice and the Prime Minister of Egypt but they remained unanswered. Their lawyer eventually told them that, according to news he received, they would soon be brought to the Public Prosecutor. And indeed, after five days of incommunicado detention, the retired father and his son were referred to the prosecution and charged with "affiliation to a banned group" on 24 September 2015, without any consideration for their testimonies of repeated torture during their secret detention in Nasr City Police Station. In fact, they testified that every new detainee is subjected to the "welcome torture" upon arrival in detention, without any possibility of being examined by a doctor after or to file complaints against the perpetrators, a possibility that will be made even more difficult by the enactment, on 26 October 2015, of Law n°105 of 2015 which gives prison personnel the right to torture prisoners with full impunity as soon as they do not comply to orders.

These testimonies of systematic torture in detention echo the numerous cases of torture documented by Alkarama, including against minors such as Anas Abdelmaksoud, repeatedly tortured together with his two brothers, or against journalists arrested and tortured for doing their work, such as freelance journalist Hassan El Kabany. "There is a pervasive culture of torture and ill-treatment in detention in Egypt that the various regimes, including the current one, have failed to address and that have in fact encouraged it by adopting laws that do not sufficiently protect individuals and create a breeding ground for abuses, in complete impunity" said Thomas-John Guinard, Regional Legal Officer for the Nile at Alkarama.

Still detained in Nasr City police station, Magdy and Ahmed are at high risk of being tortured again, either to force them to confess to crimes or in retaliation for their alleged political affiliations. Concerned about their fates, Alkarama sent an urgent appeal to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture (SRT) to ask the Egyptian authorities to ensure their mental and physical health. The authorities must authorise them to see an independent doctor and launch investigations into their reports of torture. It is high time that they put an end to the ongoing and crackdown on real and alleged political opponents and ensure that individuals are free from torture and ill-treatment in accordance with their international obligations under the UN Convention against Torture (UNCAT) ratified by Egypt in June 1986.

For more information or an interview, please contact the media team at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (Dir: +41 22 734 1008).

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