The family of Hany Saeed has accused police officers at Shubra al-Kheima police station of torturing their son to death, after he had been arrested for alleged drug and edged weapons possession.
The family was citing an official medical report, a copy of which was obtained by Al-Masry Al-Youm. The report detected “bruises at various parts of his dead body”. The the report was supported by a video also obtained by Al-Masry Al-Youm filed inside Cairo’s main Zeinhom Morgue.
Al-Masry Al-Youm could not reach the Interior Ministry officials for comment, but the ministry has recurrently denied any torture practices against inmates.
Hany Saeed, a microbus driver who was allegedly tortured and killed by policemen at the Shubra al-Kheima police station.
“The police station had told us the death was natural,” Saeed’s uncle, Mostafa Madbouly, told Al-Masry Al-Youm. “When I looked at the corpse, I found signs of torture, but the officers said they had not caused that,” he said, adding that referring the body to a hospital, doctors confirmed the death was caused by “beating and torture inside prison”. He noted that the family is currently waiting for the forensic examiner's opinion.
Al-Masry Al-Youm also obtained a copy of Saeed’s testimony to interrogators after his arrest last Wednesday.
“I am a microbus driver, and my car had run out of gasoline. I had to push it but bumped into a motorbike owned by a police agent who beat me and took me to prison,” read Saeed’s responses to interrogators, in which he denied the alleged drug possession.
Occasional prison deaths have been reported since the 2011 uprising. Early June, a report by the National Council for Human Rights blamed authorities for mounting prison deaths both due to torture and poor incarceration conditions.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
