El Nadeem Center against Violence and Torture

Diaries of Torture – May 2010

Egyptian Task-force against Torture

1 May

    1. General Ismail El Shaer, first assistant to the Minister of Interior,
      sends a warning to independent MPs refusing their request to organize a
      peaceful demonstration demanding political reform. The demonstration was
      planned to head to parliament to submit the demands to the chair. In its
      refusal, the Cairo security directorate states that within the current
      security situation such demonstrations and protests may lead to
      disruption of public security in the capital and obstruct traffic to the
      disadvantage of citizens interests. The security directorate held MPs
      responsible for any breach of its orders. (EL Masry El Youm)
    2. The detention of 8 members of the Muslim Brotherhood was renewed for
      15 days. They are charged with belonging to a banned group and possession
      of books and publications that advocate the ideology of the group. (El
      Shorouk)

2 May

    1. Security forces close Hussein Hegazi street in advance of the workers’
      protest demanding the court-ordered minimum wage.
    2. Security forces blocked downtown in preparation of the 3rd of May
      demonstration by MPs and representatives of political parties. A security
      source told Al-Masry al-Youm that the demonstrations will be stopped,
      even if force is required to do so, especially since “they have been
      warned.” The source added that security forces will be spread throughout
      Midan Tahrir, through Magis al-Shaab and Qasr al-Aini streets, and in
      front of the Omar Makram Mosque, and that demonstrators would be dealt
      with severely. The source confirmed that any group gathering in these
      areas will be arrested, indicating that the refusal of the Ministry of
      Interior to organization of the march stems from its fear of the outbreak
      of rioting during the march, and indicated that any person arrested will
      face a number of charges, including disrupting general security. The
      source added that coordination with Central Security and the Riot Police
      is underway for use of their assistance in breaking up the march should
      its organizers succeed in gathering demonstrators and beginning their
      protest. Deputies expressed their determination to organize the march
      despite the refusal of the Ministry of Interior, and assured that they
      will cautiously protect national security, the citizens’ security, and
      ensure that the police force is not attacked (Al-Masry al-Youm).
    3. Dr. Hany Hilal, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research,
      threatened researchers, employees, and administrators of the Mubarak City
      for Scientific Research and Technological Applications in Alexandria to
      “cut the neck” of whoever spoke of the decision to fire Dr. Mohamed
      al-Saadany, previous Director of the city, be it positively or negatively
      (Al-Masry al-Youm).
    4. Egyptian police killed two African immigrants on the Egyptian border
      with Israel, one of whom was a 35-yr-old Eritrean immigrant. (Reuters)

3 May

    1. Security forces surrounded and attacked more than 170 demonstrators in
      front of the garden of the Omar Makran mosque in Midan Tahrir, during
      their efforts to lead a peaceful march to the Parliament. They assaulted
      and injured the demonstrators, and kidnapped three activists, including
      Ahmed Douma. Among the demonstrators were six members of Egypt’s
      Parliament, the head of the Freedoms Committee of the Journalist
      Syndicate, and a number of public figures, demanding an end to the
      Emergency Law and the provision of guarantees for the upcoming
      legislative elections.
    2. Security forces blocked downtown in preparation of the 3rd of May
      demonstration by MPs and representatives of political parties.
    3. Ahmed Douma was taken before the prosecutor because of his
      participation in a demonstration demanding cancellation of the Emergency
      Law, and was charged with assaulting security officers, destruction of a
      kiosk in Midan Tahrir, and possession of a light weapon.

4 May

    1. An investigation and charges were brought against activist Ahmed
      Douma for participating in an illegal gathering and assault of public
      employees during the performance of their duties. The prosecutor in the
      Central Cairo district took testimony from several police officers as
      victims.
    2. Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Gamal Hishmat, Shoura Council
      member, was arrested on Friday, along with Osama Suliman, an engineer and
      Brotherhood leader. The arrest took place at a traffic checkpoint on
      Maahad al-Diny street in Damanhour. They were taken from Osama Suliman’s
      private car in front of dozens of eye witnesses, who confirmed that the
      security checkpoints were placed at the city’s entrances and exists since
      the afternoon, and that after the arrest of Hishmat and Suliman all of
      the checkpoints were dismantled.
    3. After a seven-hour investigation, the Damahour prosecutor decided to
      order the detention of Dr. Mohamed Gamal Hishmat and Mr. Osama Suliman
      for fifteen days pending investigation, and placed them in the Damanhour
      transfer police department while awaiting transfer to a public
      prison.
    4. Dr. Mohamed Gamal Hishmat and engineer Osama Suliman refute the
      charges against them and continue their hunger strike until the Ministry
      of Interior and the State Security prosecutor withdraw the fabricated
      case against them.
    5. Cairo University’s Faculty of Commerce issued an administrative
      decision that resolves to bar fifty-five students from sitting for their
      examinations. The students named all belong to the April 6 Youth Movement
      and the Muslim Brotherhood. The decision was issued on February 12, 2010,
      on the basis of fraudulent investigations that never actually took place.
      The clear fraud of the investigations is considered reason enough to
      invalidate the decision, which includes several charges, among them:
      affixing stickers, distributing leaflets, and inciting unrest in the
      university campus; organization of an art exhibit without security
      clearance; and organization of demonstrations.
    6. Regional authorities in the Port Said district of “Zarzara,” an area
      of informal housing in the city of Port Said, destroyed fifteen homes in
      a single-story unit with no prior warning, leaving the families residing
      in them without alternative accommodations, in order to allow for
      construction of a road. According to the Egyptian Center for Housing
      Rights, the police beat a number of those forced from their homes.

5 May

    1. Dr. Mohamed Gamal Hishmat’s and engineer Osama Suliman’s health
      deteriorated when they arrived at Burg al-Arab prison this afternoon. The
      prisoners suffered from severe fatigue resulting from a hunger strike,
      which, they announced, was entering its third successive day, prompting
      the Attorney General for the Central Damanhour prosecutor’s office to
      issue a decision ordering immediate and urgent medical examinations. The
      results of the examinations are to be presented to the Attorney General’s
      office with the utmost speed.
    2. The Committee for the Defense and Freedoms of Prisoners of Conscience
      organized a protest Saturday, May 8, 2010, and presented the Attorney
      General with a report regarding the following: 1) the assault and
      abduction of activist and Media Coordinator of the Bloggers’ Committee,
      on the charges fabricated against him, and on his continued imprisonment;
      2) activist and blogger Tariq Hader, who was taken from his university to
      an unknown destination, for collecting signatures on behalf of Dr.
      Mohamed al-Baradei; 3) the continued imprisonment of Workers’ Party
      member Professor Bahaa al-Din Mohamed Abd al-Hady, without charge, for
      the seventh successive year, despite the issue of more than fourteen
      final judgments ordering his immediate release; 4) the continued
      imprisonment of Sinai activist Masaad Abu Fagr for the third successive
      year.

6 May

    1. Activist Ahmed Douma will be transferred this Saturday, May 8, 2010,
      to the special (accelerated) section of the Qasr al-Nil Court for
      Misdemeanors, without completion of the investigation and without
      response to the requests of his defense team. It is worthy of note that
      the prosecutor turned a blind eye to the security officers’ control of
      the court building in which the investigation was taking place, who
      prevented a large number of lawyers from meeting with Douma, and
      prevented witnesses from entering the courtroom in order to give their
      testimony of events. The prosecutor, nevertheless, heard the testimony of
      all witnesses presented by the Ministry of Interior. (The Egyptian
      Center)

8 May

    1. A Palestinian prisoner recently released from an Egyptian prison, who
      requested that his name be protected, discovered new and extremely
      serious evidence that for the first times reveals the cause of death of
      Hamas leader Samy Abu Zahry’s brother, Yousef Abu Zahry. The evidence
      confirmed that Abu Zahry was executed at the headquarters of the Egyptian
      state security apparatus. His death resulting from severe torture,
      particularly in the form of severe electric shocks. “The Jerusalem Press”
      reported that the anonymous Palestinian prisoner and a group of other
      Palestinian prisoners in Egyptian prisons were subjected to severe
      torture by the state security apparatus with the aim of obtaining
      information on Hamas. The prisoner stated that he heard martyr Yousef Abu
      Zahry scream as he was subjected to torture by electric shock until
      death. He also stated that he died in the basement of the state security
      building, not in the hospital at Burg al-Arab prison, and that the radio
      was played in order to cover the victim’s screams as he died. The source
      noted that Hamas leader Ayman Nofel, detained in Egyptian prisons during
      those days, was subjected to severed torture in order to obtain
      information about Hamas. The source went on to state that Yousef Abu
      Zahry’s brother, Hamas spokesperson Samy Abu Zahry, doubted the Egyptian
      authorities’ narrative, which claims that Yousef died a natural death
      resulting from his suffering from a number of diseases. He accused the
      Egyptian authorities of killing his brother. (http://www.egyptwindow.net/news_Details.aspx?News_ID=8126)
    2. The Egyptian Association for the Advancement of the Child presented
      today, May 8, 2010, a report to the Attorney General requesting an
      investigation into the detention of Hanan Shaaban Ezzat Qutub. The girl
      is detained in the Omraneya police headquarters, in a location not
      intended for the detention of children. The girl is fourteen years old
      and has been detained pending investigation pursuant to misdemeanor case
      #747/2010 (Giza), from May 3, 2010 until the present.
    3. A court decided today to prolong Ahmed Douma’s detention despite the
      lack of any justification for doing so in the Egyptian constitution or
      criminal procedure laws. Attendees at the hearing stated that the court
      heard the case while there was a concentrated security presence inside
      the courthouse, and that the security forces surrounding the building
      prevented all opposing witnesses from even entering the court.
      (Association for the Freedom of Thought and Expression, Egyptian Center
      for Economic and Social Rights, Hisham Mubarak Law Center)

9 May

    1. Three detainees attempted suicide in Al-Wady al-Gedid prison, having
      accused the prison administration of forcing them to perform immoral
      acts. Political prisoners in Al-Wady al-Gedid prison continued their
      hunger strike and their refusal to cooperate with the prison
      administration for the second week, and a number of them attempted
      suicide as a result of severe fatigue and their having been subjected to
      beating and torture, according to their lawyers. Amr Mohamed Hussein, age
      28, detained since January 2006 on the basis of having belonged to
      “Al-Jihad,” tried on Monday to commit suicide by slicing an artery in his
      hand with a sharp object because of the severe pressure, beating and
      torture to which he was subjected. The prison’s head of investigations,
      Abd al-Hamid al-Sirfy, forced Amr to commit immoral acts, and tried to
      force him nearly every day to strip naked inside the ward and then parade
      him around the prison. Bahaa al-Din Abd al-Hady and Abd al-Hamid Shady
      attempted suicide as a result of their frustration and despair after
      having been on hunger strike from May 1 until the present without any
      improvement in their conditions. (Al-Youm al-Sabaa)
    2. A number of students in Cairo University’s Faculty of Commerce
      submitted a complaint to the National Human Rights Council protesting the
      faculty dean’s decision to refuse them from sitting for their final exams
      during the second school semester, in May 2010. The students are accused
      of hanging posters on trees inside the university. In their complaint,
      the students clarified that they were only notified of their suspension
      from exams by chance. The faculty’s intention was to inform them of the
      decision merely one week before the exam, when the students could no
      longer protest the decision. (Ikhwan Online)
    3. Hishmat and Suliman’s families accused the state security apparatus
      of endangering the prisoners’ lives, requested their immediate release in
      light of their severe illness, and stressed that they would continue
      their protest until their absolute release. A medical source stressed
      that it was imperative that the prisoners be transferred to a hospital in
      order to immediately feed them intravenously and place them in a
      well-ventilated area in order to prevent a sharp deterioration in their
      condition, in view of the immediate danger to their lives.

10 May

    1. Amnesty International called for Egyptian authorities to cease their
      forced expulsion of around 200 families in the northeast of the country
      pursuant to a project to widen one of the roads. On Tuesday, May 4,
      bulldozers began to destroy and remove homes in the Zarzara region, a
      collection of informal housing in Port Said, leaving fifteen families
      homeless and 200 other families under threat of expulsion. The fifteen
      families were left without alternative accommodations on the day of their
      expulsion, and were granted merely 500 Egyptian pounds (89 U.S. dollars)
      as compensation for their homes.

11 May

    1. Dr. Mohamed Gamal Hishmat, former MP, was transferred this morning to
      the French Qasr al-Ainy hospital upon the decision by his medical team
      that he was unable to be adequately (including treatment with x-rays and
      analysis) in Damanhour. A medical source confirmed that Dr. Hishmat’s
      condition had begun to improve after travel to Cairo to complete
      treatment and medical examinations. The medical care was necessary to
      overcome the poor impact on his health of a seven-day hunger strike,
      during which the interior ministry failed to transfer him to a hospital
      for necessary medical care, neglecting the health of one of its citizens
      and violating the rights to treatment and care afforded him by law.
    2. Shoura Council election violations: The Ministry of Interior’s
      excesses and violations in the 2010 Shoura Council mid-term elections
      began with the rights of Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed al-Ziat in
      the Hosh Issa, Abu al-Matamir and Abu Hams districts. Police
      investigators in Hosh Issa tore the candidate’s campaign materials just
      hours after they were hung throughout the city, and abducted Hosny
      al-Sheikh, one of al-Ziat’s supporters, as he was on his way to his home
      in Hosh Issa. He will be presented to the Hosh Issa prosecutor this
      afternoon. It was also reported that a large force from the Baheira
      security directorate was dispersed, led by Officer Gamal Matouly, an
      investigative inspector in the directorate, and accompanied by Captain
      Ahmed al-Sharqawy, deputy commissioner of the police department, and four
      truckloads of soldiers. They passed by all government facilities and
      banks in Hosh Issa, taking with them the security guard from in front of
      each of the institutions in order to aid Ministry of Interior in removing
      leaflets affixed throughout the streets. This instigated Hosh Issa’s
      residents. They were then threatened with imprisonment if they spoke of
      the events and were told that they would meet the same fate as Hosny
      al-Sheikh, who was arrested.

12 May

    1. On Wednesday evening, the guard at Cairo University’s Faculty of
      Pharmacology closed the college’s doors and prevented all of its students
      from leaving the university campus. This came after a demonstration,
      organized by Muslim Brotherhood, on the university’s campus today
      protesting the referral of fifteen students to a disciplinary board.
      After the demonstration ended, at 5 PM, the students were startled as
      they tried to exit the university when the security let some through, but
      closed the university gates in front of students of the pharmacy college
      and Muslim Brotherhood students, in the midst of a concentrated Central
      Security presence, with police cars and a gang of officers awaiting
      outside. (Al-Youm al-Sabaa)

13 May

    1. Today, Thursday, the security apparatus in Baheira governorate
      abducted Saad al-Naqib, a Muslim Brotherhood member from Abu Hams city,
      from inside the city council. Al-Naqib was on a campaign trip with
      Mohamed al-Ziat, a Muslim Brotherhood candidate in the Shoura Council
      mid-term elections for the Abu Hams district. The director of
      investigations prevented al-Ziat and his supporters from completing their
      tour inside the city council, and took al-Naqib from the middle of the
      group.
    2. Three persons in Nagaa Hamadi were shot and injured after police
      mistakenly fired on them while attempting to kill stray dogs.

14 May

    1. The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights today demanded from
      Minister of Interior the immediate release of nine citizens who have been
      administratively detained pursuant to the Emergency Law for two months
      because of their connection to the Ahmadi sect. The Initiative also
      called on the Attorney General to issue an order ending the
      investigations, headed by the High State Security Prosecutor, of all
      those accused of “religious defamation,” and for sanctions for those
      responsible for the detention and interrogation of citizens on the basis
      of their religious practices, which violates the rights of freedom of
      belief and expression afforded to them by the constitution.
    2. Security forces forcefully broke up the the tour of Muslim
      Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Aoud al-Ziat this afternoon. Al-Ziat is an
      electoral candidate running in the 2010 Shoura Council midterm elections
      in the Second District (Abu Hummus, Hosh Issa and Abu al-Matamir
      regions). During the altercation, security forces abducted Mohamed Mazen,
      one of al-Ziat’s supporters, and took him to an unknown location.
    3. Residents of Gezirat Mohamed demonstrated against the government’s
      dispossession of their ownership to their land, and against their
      annexation to the 6 October governorate. Security forces broke up the
      gathering using tear gas, shot the residents with rubber bullets, and
      undertook random arrest campaigns, taking people from inside their homes.
      They erected a security barrier at each of the town entrances; arrested
      the women of the village, and held them hostage in order to force the men
      to turn themselves in; and arrested children of no more than 10 years of
      age, all amid an influx of a large number of armored vehicles, which were
      waiting to transport the detainees to unknown locations.
    4. After waiting for more than 18 hours for the prosecutor’s decision
      against those charged from Gezirat Mohamed, the Associate Attorney
      General refused to grant lawyers of the Gezirat Mohamed defendants a
      decision. The lawyers were humiliated and ordered to go to the
      prosecutor’s guard station to await the decision.

15 May

    1. Ahmed Douma’s hearing was postponed until June 22, with a
      continuation of his detention, after his arrest on May 3 during a
      demonstration demanding an end to the Emergency Law.
    2. Supporters of a Muslim Brotherhood candidate in the Shoura Council
      elections were detained in the Alaa Osman Hassan detention center when
      dozens of them were randomly taken from their homes or off the street and
      arrested. Security forces cleared the streets in order to prevent the
      mobility of the Brotherhood candidate’s supporters.

16 May

    1. The High Administrative Court heard the case of Cairo University
      Faculty of Commerce students regarding the dean’s decision to suspend 49
      students, including 7 alumni and one deceased student. (Association for
      Freedom of Thought and Expression)
    2. Police sent defendants in the Gezirat Mohamed case to the prosecutor
      this morning to present them at an unappointed time, but defendants were
      returned without having been brought before the prosecutor.
    3. 60 residents of Gezirat Mohamed were imprisoned for four days and
      refused food by the security apparatus.
    4. Egyptian police shot a 39-yr-old Sudanese immigrant from Darfur, Adam
      Ali Mohamed, as he tried to cross the border.
    5. Hamed Rashid, the Ministry of Interior’s Director of Legal
      Administration, confirmed the arrest of a number of employees of an
      independent PM, Muslim Brotherhood member Abd al-Fattah Eid, in Munfeya
      governorate. This came after his supporters hung banners protesting the
      extension of the Emergency Law. (Al-Doustour)

17 May

    1. The Attorney General investigated rights activist Nasser Amin,
      Director of the Arabic Center for Independence of the Judiciary and the
      Legal Profession, after his comments on the State Council’s position
      regarding the appointment of women in the judiciary.

18 May

    1. State Security Investigations and Central Security forces attacked a
      march in support of Muslim Brotherhood candidate Alaa Osman Abouda, and
      beat Abouda and his supporters. Plain clothes officers seized his
      personal election campaign materials and abducted two of his supporters,
      whose names have not yet been determined. State security vehicles were
      seen at the arrests.

19 May

    1. A number of lawyers staged a sit-in today in front of the Helwan
      courthouse and organized a march across the public road on Khasrou
      Street, branching from Sharif Street, in protest of a Helwan police
      officer’s detention of their colleague, Mohamed Ali Ahmed. Ahmed was
      illegally detained inside the police station while he was reviewing one
      of his client’s files. (Al-Youm al-Sabaa)
    2. Security forces arrested 8 members of the National Assembly for
      Change in Baheira, Damanhour, during their gathering in support of Dr.
      Mohamed al-Baradei. Those detained are: Ahmed Milad, President of the
      “Ghad” (Tomorrow) Party in Baheira; Ahmed Madhat, Ghad Party member;
      Ahmed Bassiouni, Hany Idris and Mohamed Battour, National Assembly for
      Change members; Dr. Adel al-Atar, “Kefaya” coordinator in Baheira; and
      Essam Goueida and Said Abd al-Maqsoud, “Kefaya” movement.
    3. More than 17 persons were arrested today by plain-clothes State
      Security Investigations agents as they were participating in a Muslim
      Brotherhood candidate’s election rally. The names determined so far of
      those arrested are: Ali Lotfy, doctor; Mohamed Darwish, businessman;
      Mottasem Abd al-Gowad, air conditioning and coolant technician; Mohamed
      Kohla, publishing house owner; Mohamed Fahmy; Ali Fahmy; and Ayman
      Shaaban. Initial information indicates that they are currently being
      detained in the Monsoura police station.
    4. Two supporters of a Muslim Brotherhood candidate were taken this
      morning, Wednesday, May 19, 2010, as they hung campaign leaflets along
      Saad Zaghloul street in Ashmoun. The men, Atef al-Danasoury and Sayyid
      Sanger, were taken by plain-clothes State Security Investigations
      officers and are currently detained in the Ashmoun police station. It
      remains unclear what they are being charged with and why they were
      arrested.
    5. Plain-clothes State Security Investigations agents and Central
      Security forces attacked a private election rally for Muslim Brotherhood
      candidate yesterday, Wednesday, May 19, 2010. Dozens were arrested, the
      media was barred from photographing the events, and a photographer was
      assaulted and abducted. It is still not known who exactly was taken or
      where they are being held.
    6. Baheira: Two supporters of a Muslim Brotherhood candidate were
      arrested this morning, Wednesday, May 19, 2010, by plain-clothes State
      Security Investigations forces, as they attempted to hang election
      propaganda in Abu al-Matamir. They are Ahmed Zacharia Yousef, lawyer; and
      Abd Rabba Khairy Abd Rabba, sanitation worker. They were beaten and
      tortured by a police officer and a number of intelligence officers during
      their detention in the Abu al-Matamir police station. The signs of
      torture were evidence on various parts of their bodies when they were
      presented to the prosecutor this evening.
    7. Ahmed Seif al-Islam Hamed, lawyer and founding director of the Hisham
      Mubarak Law Center; Gamal Eid, director of the Arabic Network for Human
      Right Information; and blogger and activist Amr Gharbeia were transferred
      today to a criminal court. This came as a result of their solidarity with
      and defense of human rights activists in a case against Judge Abd
      al-Fattah Mourad for violation of the Arabic Network for Human Rights
      Information’s intellectual property rights.
      (http://www.hmlc-egy.org/node/1509)

20 May

    1. Damanhour State Security arrested Dr. Adel al-Ataf, coordinator for
      the Kefaya movement in Baheira; Said Abd al-Maqsoud; Essam Goueida; Ahmed
      Milad, lawyer; Ahmed Madhat; Hany Idris; Mohamed Batour; and Ahmed
      Bassiouni this evening at 11 PM. They were detained in the Damanhour
      State Security offices and have now been transferred to the Damanhour
      Investigations offices in the police department. A case has been prepared
      against the group, the evidence for which consists of posters in support
      of the National Assembly for Change.
    2. Hazem Ismail, a teacher in a secondary technical school, was arrested
      this morning at dawn in Faqous, Sharqaya, after hanging campaign
      materials for a Muslim Brotherhood candidate.
    3. A detainee known only as Mohamed was arrested and transferred to Burg
      al-Arab prison as punishment for his mother’s argument with a police
      officer’s aunt.
    4. The Ministry of Interior arrested 17 persons from the al-Qady mosque
      while two Muslim Brotherhood electoral candidates for Monsoura, Abd
      al-Hamid Rishad al-Adel and Safwat al-Bakry, were present. Security
      forces handled the mosque attendees violently, forcing them into Central
      Security vehicles known as “the Box,” and taking them to an unknown
      location. Lawyer Yasser al-Gizar stated, “I exited the mosque to find a
      large number of intelligence and other officers. They threw me in the Box
      but then left me there after they learned I was a lawyer, and continued
      to beat the detainees.” (Al-Doustour)
    5. The North Cairo Criminal Court accepted the complaint presented by
      lawyer Tariq Khader, a member of the April 6 Youth Movement. The
      complaint petitions against an order for his arrest issued pursuant to
      the infamous Emergency Law. Tariq was taken on March 25, 2010, but has
      still not been released. He was arrested the afternoon of March 25, 2010,
      from Alexandria University, for collecting signatures from university
      students for a National Assembly for Change statement and for a statement
      prepared by the April 6 Youth Movement demanding constitutional
      amendments and cancellation of the Emergency Law.
    6. Police in Damanhour, Baheira governorate, arrested committee
      president of the Ghad party in Baheira and seven other opposition
      activists as they were gathering signatures for a “Together We Change”
      statement for the National Assembly for Change. Police took detained
      activists to the Damanhour State Security Investigations headquarters,
      then transferred them to the Damanhour police station, where they await
      presentation to the prosecutor tomorrow afternoon. Media reported that
      the detainees have been subjected to ill-treatment and other human rights
      violations. State Security officers abused and degraded lawyers
      investigating the reason for the arrests, and expelled them from
      Damanhour SSI headquarters. The names of the detainees are: Ahmed Milad
      (Ghad Party head in Baheira), Ahmed Madhat (Ghad Party), Adel al-Atar
      (coordinator for Kefaya in Bahira), Essam Goueida (Kefaya), Said Abd
      al-Maqsoud (Kefaya), Hany Idris (National Assembly for Change), Mohamed
      Battour, Ahmed Bassiouni (6 April Youth Movement).
    7. Security forces, led by chief detective Amr Allam, harassed
      supporters of a Muslim Brotherhood candidate for the Abu Hams/Hosh
      Issa/Abu al-Matamir district as they hung banners this morning in support
      of the candidate’s campaign. Security fores limited how many banners
      could be hung and where, to the point where the candidate’s supporters
      were able to hang only three. At 3:30 AM, the officers, disguised so that
      they could not be photographed, drove through the neighborhood in a
      private car and ripped up the three banners. They then invaded one of the
      homes in the district, breaking down its door and sneaking into the
      property in order to destroy another banner. They they cut the
      neighborhood’s power lines, causing power in the entire district to short
      circuit, and spreading panic among the residents.
    8. Security forces today abducted two residents of Abu al-Matamir in the
      early morning hours as they hung banners in support of Muslim Brotherhood
      candidate al-Ziat. They used local workers to call the neighborhood’s
      State Security, who sent its forces to tear up the banners and detain the
      candidate’s supporters. Police and investigators in the Abu al-Matamir
      police department then beat the detainees while arresting and booking
      them before taking them before the prosecutor, angering the neighborhood
      residents. The prosecutor released them, so State Security officers
      returned to abduct them a second time and brought them to State Security
      headquarters in al-Noubareya.
    9. In a continuation of the security apparatus’s harassment of the
      residents of this area, security forces, led by Inspector Gamal Abdel Aty
      Bassiouni; Major Ahmad Al-Banna; and Colonel Mohammed Ammar, Associate
      Investigator in Noubareya surrounded al-Sabakeya mosque as those inside
      were preparing for the evening prayer. Security forces threw tear gas on
      people as they exited the mosque, abducting twelve Hosh Issa residents on
      the pretext that they had taken part in a demonstration. When residents
      tried to prevent security forces from taking Mahdawy Battiha, head of a
      well-known family in Hosh Issa, Central Security forces attacked them
      with batons, sticks, and tear gas, then moved through the streets
      threatening residents and throwing more tear gas. Among those still
      detained: Mahdawy Saad Battiha, Mohamed Abd al-Fattah Qareitim, Fouaz
      Mohamed Marei, and Saad Fariq al-Sheik.
    10. Security agents destroyed the tent of Mohamed Ramadan, a Towson
      resident, after removing him from his position in front of Ministry of
      Agriculture headquarters to parliament. Ramadan said that he had come to
      protest in front of parliament after staging a sit-in in front of the
      Ministry of Agriculture for more than 40 days without any response from
      Minister of Agriculture Amin Abaza. Ramadan stated that a large number of
      the remaining protestors are considering moving their protest to
      parliament. (Al-Youm al-Sabaa)

21 May

    1. Human rights organizations in Egypt, Bahrain, Palestine, Norway and
      Denmark issued a statement condemning the transfer of the case against
      Ahmed Seif, Gamal Eid, and Amr Gharbeia to trial, and began a campaign
      for the activists’ defense.
    2. Eight members of the National Assembly for Change in Baheira are
      arrested: security forces attacked eight members of the National Assembly
      for Change in Baheira this evening as they gathered signatures for Dr.
      Mohamed al-Baradei’s petition for change. The forces gathered
      al-Baradei’s supporters in front of the Damanhour Sporting Club,
      insulting and hitting them, until police cars arrived. They then shoved
      them into the police cars and brought them to State Security
      headquarters, where they remained for the next three hours. Security
      forces remained surrounding State Security headquarters, fearing an angry
      reprisal by citizens, then transferred them to the Damanhour police
      station to await their transfer to the Damanhour Attorney General. The
      eight detained activists are: Ahmed Mohamed Milad (head of the Ghad Party
      in Baheira), Adel al-Atar (Kefaya coordinator in Baheira), Ahmed Madhat
      (Ghad Party), Essam Goueida (Kefaya), Said Abd al-Maqsoud (Kefaya), Hany
      Idris, Mohamed Battour, and Ahmed Bassiouni (National Assembly for
      Change). As the detainees’ defense team attempted to enter State Security
      headquarters to find an officer to speak to about the situation, they
      were instead assaulted with a barrage of insults and expelled from the
      headquarters entrance. They confirmed that the eight activists were
      subjected to abuses by security inside the Damanhour police department,
      led by Lt. Col. Amir al-Saadany. The prosecutor charged the activists
      with belonging to a banned organization, the National Assembly for
      Change; promoting the rejection of provisions of the law and constitution
      in speech and in writing; distribution of banners and pamphlets for the
      National Assembly for Change and for representing Dr. Mohamed al-Baradei;
      and obstructing traffic.

22 May

    1. Nine supporters of Muslim Brotherhood candidate al-Ziat were detained
      for 15 days, and security checkpoints were used to detain 11 others. The
      original nine detainees are: Saad Farouq al-Sheik, lawyer; Mahdawy Hamdy
      Battiha; Mohamed Abd al-Fattah Qareitim; Fouad Mohamed Marei and his son,
      Fouaz Marei; Yasser Ibrahim Farag; Abd al-Hady Hosny al-Shihat; Mamdouh
      Sabah; Islam Farag Saqr, a relative of an NDP candidate; and Ibrahim
      Fathy Abd al-Hady Hidra, who was randomly detained Thursday after evening
      prayer as he was on his way to arranging his marriage contract.
    2. A group of “Gazl al-Mahalla” football supporters submitted a
      complaint to the Attorney General accusing Alexandria security of
      assaulting them, insulting and severely beating them and severely
      injuring several in the process. This came during a match between the
      “Gazl al-Mahalla” and “Haras al-Hodood” teamsas part of the Alexandria
      league games, played at the al-Max stadium on Monday, May 17.

23 May

    1. At 1 pm, security forces attacked and assaulted Amonseeto workers who
      were organizing a sit-in in front of the parliament. Several workers were
      badly injured as a result and sent to the hospital for treatment. The
      security forces also detained 7 workers and harassed journalists and
      activists who came in solidarity with the workers. At 4 pm, while
      journalists Sara Carr and Philip Rizq, in addition to Dr. Mostafa Hussein
      (El-Nadeem center) were visiting the assaulted workers and recording
      their testimonies, an officer ordered them not to take photos. He then
      took their IDs and mobile phones and led them to another official in the
      presence of Major General Farouk Lasheen. The officer searched their
      mobiles, deleted all the photos they took, and tore up Dr. Mostafa’s
      papers containing the workers’ names and injuries.

24 May

    1. Security forces, led by Ministry of Interior inspector Gamal Abd
      al-Aati, attacked and searched the home of Sami Fathi al-Naggar`s, lawyer
      to Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Awad al-Ziat. Some of the home
      furniture was destroyed in the process. Abd al-Aati threatened
      al-Naggar`s wife and children, claiming that they would never see him
      again even if the prosecution allowed him to go. The inspector, nervous
      when he did not find al-Naggar at his home, attacked his father’s and
      brother’s homes and threatened them with arrest if they failed to bring
      him al-Naggar at the police station. He then resumed his violations of
      the law and attacked three buildings next to al-Naggar`s home, severely
      insulting the neighbors and threatening them that he would find who was
      responsible for hiding al-Naggar. (Muslim Brotherhood Information Office,
      Bouhiera).

25 May

    1. A number of state security intelligence officers and soldiers, led by
      officer Hisham El Khatib and a number of investigation officers and
      informers from different police stations in Alexandria, attacked
      activists today during a peaceful protest organized by the National
      Association for Change in front of the courthouse, arresting several. One
      of the detained activists, Sayeda Fouda, developed a fracture in her
      right arm as a result of the beating and was taken to Nariman hospital
      for treatment. Charges: Demonstration and obstruction of traffic.
    2. A police force from Bahira security directorate attacked the
      population of al-Shamasa village in Edfina to force them to leave their
      homes upon an eviction order by the governor, of which the population was
      not informed. The protests of the population were met with random
      arrests, beatings and tear gas. 70 people were detained in total, among
      them children. http://www.anhri.net/?p=6632
    3. Detention and kidnapping of dozens of supporters of the Egyptian
      opposition in Shoura council elections: 17 arrested in Mansoura; 2
      abducted from Menufeya; kidnap and torture of two Muslim Brotherhood
      supporters in Bahira; detention of Muslim Brotherhood supporters in
      Sharqeya; dozens arrested, including journalists,in Qalubeya.(source)

26 May

    1. The April 6 Youth Movement declared that they have not been able to
      locate member Tareq Khedr, detained since March 25, 2010) in the Wadi
      al-Natrun prison complex. The Alexandria Attorney General and the
      Ministry of Interior confirmed this on the basis of the confirmation of
      Major General Hamed Rashed (the ministry’s Legal Affairs Department
      Manager), in a discussion of the interrogation presented by Dr. Hamdy
      Hasan around kidnapping Tareq Khedr. For more details, go here.
    2. A Hisham Mubarak Law Center employee was threatened with arrest by an
      Ismalia governorate security official, as he was defending high-need
      workers and drivers in emergency situations. For more details, go
      here.
    3. Egyptian authorities released a Syrian citizen detained last month
      just after he arrived in Cairo airport, without announcing the reasons
      for the detention. The Syrian Committee for Human Rights declared that
      “the Syrian citizen Hossam Radwan El-Marei returned to his family after
      being taken by Egyptian state security from Cairo airport and detained
      for 38 days. During this time he was exposed to maltreatment and brutal
      torture, threatened with rape, shocked with electric current, kicked,
      hit, and severely insulted.” The Syrian Committee confirmed this in a
      statement sent to Akhbar El-sahrq.

27 May

    1. Forty-four persons from al-Shamasa village, Edfina city, Baheira
      governorate, were presented to the prosecutor in El-mahmoudiah. Eight
      children were let free and 36 persons were imprisoned for 15 days on
      accusation of participating in a demonstration and resisting authority.
      During the investigations carried out by State Security prosecution,
      lawyers found that the detainees were badly injured. The prosecution
      therefore decided to transfer the injured for a medical examination, and
      to examine homes attacked by the security forces.

28 May

    1. Security forces detained four activists (Mamdouh Karam, Khaled Adham,
      Mahmoud al-Husseiny and Ahmed Ali) in Abanob city, Assiut governorate,
      while they were collecting public signatures for a petition of the
      National Assembly for Change. They took the detainees to Abanob police
      station and presented them to State Security Investigations before
      setting them free.

29 May

    1. Al-Tagammou party activist Mohamed Rashed was assaulted and badly
      injured, requiring sutures in his head, 15 sutures in his right arm, and
      5 others in his abdomen. This happened while he was trying to hang a
      banner supporting Abd al-Rasheed Helal, his party candidate in
      al-Badrasheen, 6th of October city.
    2. Security forces, led by Gamal Abd al-Aati, the inspector of the
      Ministry of Interior, and Amr Allam, Abo Homos police station chief,
      attacked a mass march organized by Mohamed Awad al-Ziat supporters, the
      Muslim Brotherhood candidate for the third constituency (including Abo
      Homos, Hosh Issa, and Abo al-Matameer). The attack took place a few hours
      before Ahmed Ezz, the NDP organizing secretary, visited the city.
      Security forces used live rubber bullets and tear gas, injuring 30
      al-Ziat supporters, many of whom were at risk and transferred to Abo
      Homos hospital. Security forces also kidnapped two members of al-Ziat’s
      legal council, Gameel Deif and Ali al-Deeb, and one other person from the
      city.

30 May

    1. Two men from Abo Homos are in Alexandria University hospital after
      suffering internal bleeding and severe eye injuries. A physician
      confirmed that yesterday the hospital received Ahmed Abas Saad El-Tokhy
      and, after a medical examination, it was found that he had eruptions in
      both eyes and he was suffering internal bleeding. He had been struck by a
      spray of bullets and his injuries were extremely severe. He was thus kept
      under observation; it remains unclear whether he will regain his eyesight
      see. Nashaat Galal El-Gharabawy was also taken to the hospital, where a
      medical examination showed an eruption in his left eye. He underwent
      emergency surgery, was subjected to CT scan and kept under
      observation.
    2. Security forces in Helwan governorate abducted 50 supporters of Ali
      Fateh El-Bab, the Helwan Muslim Brotherhood candidate. Security forces in
      six vehicles cut their way into a march of Fateh el-Bab supporters,
      confiscated all the sound sets, and kidnapped 50 to an unknown location.

31 May

  1. Blogger Amr Salama (who writes the “Lessa Aish” blog) was detained
    for documenting covering and counting the elections rigging.
  2. Zakariah Abd al-Hameed, a Muslim Brotherhood candidate in Dakahlia,
    was detained when NDP thugs assaulted El-Hayaha satellite channel. The
    channel was in the middle of taping a cast during their meeting with
    another Muslim Brotherhood candidate, Eid Dahroug.
  3. “Like an American action movie, but on Egyptian land.”… that is how
    Azab Mostafa (a Muslim Brotherhood parliamentary bloc member, and the
    Brotherhood candidate in Bandar El-Giza) supporters described what
    happened in his electoral campaign march in El-Haram area on May 23rd.
    Supporters were kidnapped, detained and tortured in the neighborhood’s
    infamous police station. The supporters state that they were tortured
    extremely violently: they were insulted, beaten on the backs of their
    heads, kicked (by men wearing shoes), and beaten with the butts of
    officers’ pistols, and their staffs. This all took place under the
    supervision and participation of the police station chief. One of the
    detainees was badly injured as a result, left with two deep wounds in the
    head (each requiring 6 sutures) and swellings in the chest and back, with
    another swelling and dangerous blood clot in the eye.
Related post