On 11 September 2009, Alkarama sent an urgent appeal to the Special Rapporteur on Torture asking him to intervene with the Egyptian authorities in order to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of Mr Abdullah Awad.

Mr Abdullah Maher Ibrahim Awad, born in 1984 and a resident of Hay Al-Fawakhriya in Al-Arish Governorate in North Sinai, was until recently studying at Al-Azhar University in Cairo.

Circumstances of arrest, detention and torture

SSI officers failed to provide any judicial arrest warrant when Mr. Mr Abdullah Awad was arrested at his home on 25 March 2009 . He was immediately taken to SSI headquarters in Nasr City, a district of Cairo some 300km from Al-Arish, where he was detained incommunicado for 2 months. During this period, his family was never informed of his arrest nor were they aware of his whereabouts.

At SSI headquarters, Abdullah Awad was subjected to serious torture aimed at forcing confessions. He was repeatedly hit over the head, whipped on the feet, hung from the ceiling, and forced to stand without sleeping. He was also dragged along the floor and thrown against walls. As a result of this torture, he developed a limp and was later found to have a blood clot forming on his brain.

It was only on 25 May 2009 that the Interior Ministry issued a formal warrant for his arrest and he was consequently transferred to Al-Marg prison, Cairo, where he was held in solitary confinement.

Eventually, on 2 June 2009, his family were informed of his whereabouts. During the family's four visits to the prison, they noticed the continual deterioration of his health: at first suffering from severe fatigue and a limp; he began becoming cross-eyed, and suffering from severe migraines. By the end of June Abdullah Awad had a visible tumor forming on one of his eyes.

Final release

On 30 June 2009, the Penal Court of Cairo ordered his release, however the Ministry of Interior immediately issued an administrative order for his arrest and transferred him to Burj Al-Arab prison. Mr Awad's family and lawyer submitted several request between 1 and 17 July 2009 asking for him to be given a CT scan. Their request was finally granted on 17 July 2009 and he was transferred to Alexandria University Hospital for further treatment. The results were conclusive; he had a blood clot on the brain that was putting pressure on his optic nerve and require immediate surgery. He was operated on 19 July 2009.

Unbelievably, after his operation prison authorities tried to return him to Burj Al-Arab. However, the doctors refused and he was kept at Alexandria University Hospital under heavy security supervision until the Ministry of Interior finally ordered his effective release on 18 August 2009.

Reminder

The torture of Mr Abdullah Awad is in direct violation of domestic law under the Egyptian Constitution of 1971 and Egypt's Penal Code of 1973. International law obliges Egypt to respect its commitments made upon ratification of the Convention against Torture on 25 May 1986.