The Committee for Justice (CFJ) condemns the ongoing torture epidemic perpetrated by the security agencies in Egypt, following leaked videos of detainees being tortured in a police station in the country.
On 24 January 2022, the Guardian published a video that showed Egyptian police torturing detainees at al-Salam Police Station in Cairo. The video showed two inmates hung in painful positions. The detainees were naked from the waist up and suspended from a metal grate by their arms, which were fastened behind their backs.
This came one day before the 11th anniversary of the Egyptian revolution, which was sparked by the deadly torture of Khaled Said by police officers a year earlier. Millions of Egyptians protested against police brutality on 25 January 2011, which also marked National Police Day.
Torture practised systemically and systematically in Egypt is not a recently established fact. The prevalence of torture in Egyptian places of detention has been the subject of numerous inquiries and reports by international human rights bodies and by concerned civil society alike, particularly over the last two decades, according to a report by the Committee for Justice, Dignity and ECRF.
CFJ reiterates that torture is a systematic practice in Egypt utilised by the state to impose repressive policies and to spread an atmosphere of fear among Egyptians.
CFJ denounces the climate of impunity provided by the Egyptian state to perpetrators through the absence of the rule of law. Moreover, the state resists any independent efforts to address torture in police stations, which is evident in the official state media response.
The Committee Against Torture (CAT) has previously reported that torture in Egypt “appears to occur particularly frequently following arbitrary arrests and is often carried out to obtain a confession or to punish and threaten political dissents. Torture occurs in police stations, prisons, State security facilities, and Central Security Forces facilities.”
CFJ also stresses that the Egyptian judiciary is complicit with prison administrations in facilitating the widespread act of torture by ignoring the defendants’ repeated complaints during court hearings and by not holding perpetrators accountable.
The Egyptian government deliberately intimidates the families of torture victims with reprisals to prevent victims from seeking redress or defending their right to physical and psychological integrity.
CFJ demands a transparent investigation into the published torture incident and calls on Egypt to adhere to its international legal commitments.
