08 April 2016

Egypt: repeated torture of a farmer while in secret detention

Prison's cells seen from the bottom, closed by barsCredit: Thomas Hawk/Flickr Egyptian Homeland Security raided Mohamed Mohamed Sadiq Ayyad’s house and arrested him on 13 January 2016. Secretly detained for weeks, he was repeatedly tortured before being charged under various accusations, without the assistance of a lawyer. Still detained to date, he was only allowed to see his relatives for few minutes and his health state continues to deteriorate because he is refused medical care. Fearing for his life, his family turned to Alkarama that sent an urgent appeal to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture (UNSRT) to ask the Egyptian authorities to guarantee his mental and physical state and to investigate his reports of torture.

In the night of 13 January 2016, while Mohamed and his family were asleep, members of the Homeland Security raided their apartment, located in El Basarta village (Damietta Governorate), without warning. Immediately after they had entered the apartment, they searched the different rooms and confiscated Mohamed’s phone and identification before arresting him, leaving his relatives in shock. They remained unaware of Mohamed’s place of detention for several weeks, in spite of having solicited several official bodies.

It is only on 1 February that they were allowed to visit him in the Central Security Forces camp of Damietta, where he had been detained since his arrest. Only authorised to speak to him for two minutes, he told them that he had been repeatedly tortured during his secret detention which was asserted by the marks he had on his body. Deprived of sleep, food and water, he was regularly beaten up by officers while being placed in solitary confinement for the whole time of his detention.

Mohamed Ayyad's health state is deteriorating

After the visit ended, other prisoners told Mohamed’s relatives that he had been indicted under various charges and without the assistance of a lawyer, during his secret detention. Since, this 50-year-old farmer is still in the same detention centre and guards have continuously confiscated the food and medication brought by his family, which has accelerated the deterioration of his health state.

Mohamed’s story resemble to many other reports of torture in Egypt, a country where this serious violation of international human rights law has been systematically practiced for decades, including against women such as the ten young girls detained since 5 May 2015 for having peacefully demonstrated. While the European Parliament recently called upon the authorities to take action regarding the situation of human rights in Egypt and notably regarding torture, no steps have been taken in this regard and impunity prevails.

Egypt is however bound under the Convention against Torture (UNCAT) that it ratified in 1986, that explicitly prohibits the practice of torture and ill-treatment but also oblige States to effectively investigate and punish authors of torture, which in Egypt is of the competence of the public prosecution. But it continuously dismisses reports of torture, which then allows the authorities to declare that this practice is exceptional. Alkarama however published a public report in November 2015 that documented several deaths in detention resulting from torture, illustrating the widespread use of this practice.

A comprehensive response is needed to fight torture and ill-treatment in Egypt and while the UNSRT, solicited by Alkarama, can help Mohamed and his family to obtain remedy, the international community as a whole also bears responsibility for the continuous human rights violations that have been occurring in Egypt in the past year. More often than not, however, States preferred turning a blind eye on these abuses, privileging the fight against terrorism over Egyptian citizens’ freedoms.

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Egypt - HR Instruments

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)

ICCPR: Ratified on 14.01.1982
Optional Protocol: No

State report: Overdue since 01.11.2004 (4th)
Last concluding observations: 28.11.2002

Convention against Torture (CAT)

CAT: Accessed on 25.06.1986
Optional Protocol: No
Art. 20 (Confidential inquiry): Yes
Art. 22 (Individual communications): No

State report: Due on 25.06.2016 (initially due in 2004)
Last concluding observations: 23.12.2002

International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance (CED)

No

Universal Periodic Review (UPR)

Last review: 02.2010 (1st cycle)
Next review: 2014 (2nd cycle)

National Human Rights Institution (NHRI)

National Council for Human Rights (NCHR) – Status A

Last review: 10.2006
Next review: Deferred