Egypt

Media group says teen tortured by police in YouTube video interview

A new YouTube video purports to show yet another victim of police torture.

Mosireen, a popular media group, posted a video on Wednesday where a teen, identified as 15-year-old Kamel Mostafa, accuses the police of shooting him in the leg on 1 February during protests in Cairo. He was arrested the same day and then tied to his hospital bed during his treatment.

“They shoot and trample us because we are helpless,” he said in the video.

An unnamed woman identified as Mostafa's mother claims a police officer threatened her and said she would never see her son again if she talked to the media. “When I went to see him in hospital, I was told he was charged with slapping a police officer on the face,” she said.

“The guard in the hospital insisted on frisking my daughter,” she added. “He pulled down her pants.”

On the YouTube page, Mosireen says Kamel was released Tuesday after 18 days in detention and that police are still investigating him.

Article 36 of the Constitution protects the rights of prisoners and says they cannot be tortured, intimidated or coerced. It also specifies that any detainee must be kept in humane conditions.

However, police have been accused of continually ignoring the basic rights of individuals as cases alleging police torture continue to turn up in the wake of recent violence following the second anniversary of the uprising.  

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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