4 policemen arrested over torturing suspect in custody to death

CAIRO – 26 June 2018: Four policemen were arrested over torturing a suspect in custody, causing his death inside the police station of Hadaeq El Qobba district.

Three days earlier, Investigations have been ordered by the Ministry of Interior into the incident, said head of Cairo Security Directorate Khaled Abdel-Aal.

As per the prosecution’s order, the relevant authorities arrested the head of the Investigations Department of the said police station four days pending investigation for unlawfully detaining a citizen and treating him in an inhumane way.

A 28-year-old detainee, who was accused of robbery, died on Friday inside Hadayek police station. Immediately, his relatives mobbed outside the stations, demanding a clarification over his death, media outlets stated.

However, security sources denied relatives’ gathering, saying that the investigation is being conducted by a number of detectives from the Ministry of Interior.

The detectives checked the legality of the warrant of detention against the detainee and the cameras at the stations, interrogating police personnel who were at the station, a security official told Egypt Today on Saturday on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to brief the media.
In February, two policemen are accused of beating Mohamed Abdel Hakim Mahmoud, A.K.A. Afroto, to death.

The death of Afroto, 22, who was being held over accusations of drug dealing, has stirred public anger and protests slamming police violence. The police denied accusations of torturing Afroto.

Cairo’s prosecution office ordered the detention of the policemen, an assistant investigator and a non-commissioned officer, pending investigations into the death of the young man. In March, the accused policemen were referred to a trial. Since then, the trial has been adjourned several times; the next seesion would be held on July 9.

The forensic report revealed that the cause of Afroto’s death was an internal bleeding caused by a broken rib, and a laceration in the left lung due to a severe hit on a solid object. The report, thus, contradicts police allegations that Afroto died due to a drug overdose.

Earlier in September, Human Rights Watch (HRW) published a report accusing the Egyptian authorities of torturing prisoners, and calling on the United Nations to punish those who commit such violations. The report interviewed a number of detainees who were tortured by police in the period from 2014 to 2016, according to the report.

In response to the HRW report, the Foreign Ministry condemned "the unfounded and biased" report, which manifests unprofessionalism at its best, quoting unknown and anonymous sources.

The ministry further condemned that the group deliberately ignored the progress made in the field of promoting human rights in Egypt over the past few years, demonstrating its deliberate intention to promote and incite violence.

In 2016, some police personnel were handed down sentences of imprisonment over charges of “attacking and torturing” detainees.