Egypt’s celebration of the first international anti-torture day after the resignation of former President Hosni Mubarak and the dismantling of his State Security Investigations Service was marked by concerns that the fight against torture in the country is far from over.
Concerns were raised that much of the system that allowed for torture before the 25 January revolution is still in place and that the military, dealing with civilians for the first time, has become one more enemy in the war against torture.
“Last year we held this celebration while police forces were surrounding the building and torture was the normal practice. This is the first year that we celebrate this day in a true atmosphere of freedom, even though there is still injustice,” said Mohamed Abdel Kodous, head of the freedoms committee of the Journalists Syndicate, at an anti-torture event.
Held on Sunday night at the syndicate, the event was organized by the Anti-Torture Task Force, the No To Military Trials of Civilians group and the Defense of Egypt's Protesters Front.
Systematic and inhumane torture by police is believed to be one of the triggers that pushed the Egyptian people to revolt.
The start of 2011 saw a continuation of the use of torture by a regime unaware that it would start falling apart within a month. Following the explosion in an Alexandria church on New Year’s Eve, mass arrests of Islamists occurred. Those arrested reported torture. Sayed Belal, one of the suspects, died as a result of it.
Other incidents of torture were reported up to 23 January. Two days later the uprising erupted, and the people were able to watch the apparatus of the much-feared Interior Ministry disintegrate in front of their eyes on 28 January. On that day, officers fled from the streets and many police station – seen as symbols of police abuses – were set on fire.
As the ministry is being rebuilt, fears are growing that the system in place now will lead it back to its old practices.
Many incidents of police brutality have been reported since the revolution. Mohamed Shams, a 22-year-old pharmacy student, recounted the police abuse he underwent just a month ago.
Shams said as he was driving on the highway, he was stopped by officers in civilian clothes and one of them shot him in the eye, telling him later that he was suspicious. The officer then held Shams in the police station for 18 hours as his eye bled, refusing to let him go to a hospital, before he agreed to testify that his eye was injured in an accident.
After losing sight in his left eye, Shams woke up from his operation to news that he was being charged with dealing heroin and ordered to 15 days in jail pending an investigation. During the five days he spent in prison following his release from hospital, Shams describes being subjected to “indescribable pain,” saying all inmates were continuously humiliated and beaten, while he was denied much-needed medical attention for his eye.
“The lack of punishment leads to the continuation of systematic torture,” said Ahmed Ragheb, director of the Hisham Mubarak Law Center, during the anti-torture event, suggesting reforms to the entire justice system to break the cycle.
Ragheb says it is necessary to make many of the laws that deal with the punishment of torturers tougher.
He also says that the whole justice system, including the judiciary, the general prosecution and security apparatus, are still functioning according to a system put in place to ensure torturers' escape from justice.
Ragheb blames the general prosecution for neglecting thousands of torture accusations that it receives and blames judges for using legal loopholes to acquit police officers guilty of torture.
“Betting on the general prosecution in its current condition to bring justice is a losing bet,” says lawyer Mohamed Abdel Aziz.
Abdel Aziz says the general prosecution continues to be a tool in the hand of a regime that not only neglects torture complaints but also pins charges on victims to silence them.
While the fall of the ministry’s most aggressive torture arm, State Security, was widely celebrated in Egypt, the lack of a precise role for the newly-established national security apparatus leaves fears that it is the same institution with a new name.
In post-revolution Egypt, a new entity is now accused of involvement with torture.
Since the military took control in February, many incidents of torture by military police have been documented. Most notoriously, a group was arrested on 9 March and tortured inside the Egyptian Museum for six hours before being referred to the military prosecution, where they endured more torture.
Trying civilians in military courts – which has happened to 10,000 civilians since February – is thought to be one of the factors leading to more torture incidents.
Referring civilians to military courts eliminates some of their rights and makes torture more likely, said Adel Ramadan, who spoke at Sunday's event.
In military courts, detainees are not allowed to contact their family or have a lawyer present during questioning. Families are usually informed of their whereabouts after sentencing. This allows for torture during the investigations.
“As long as there are military trials of civilians, the torture will continue,” says Ramadan.
