A murderer investigating murder

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On the 9th of February 2016 El Bedaya electronic newspaper published a statement by minister of Interior Magdi Abdelghaffar commenting on the murder of Italian young man Giulio Regini “we reject the rumors that security was involved in the accident. This is not acceptable. Because nothing of the sort has ever been known of the security apparatus . We are dealing with the accident as we do with Egyptians,” expressing his surprise from rumors that claiming the involvement of security bodies, since this is not their policy and they have never been accused of anything similar.”

So you treat this incident the way you treat Egyptians? How do you treat Egyptians?

In 2015, the year when General Abdelghaffar was appointed minister of interior 137 people died in places of detention including 39 allegedly died as a result of torture. During the same year, we documented from the media 700 cases of torture and maltreatment in places of detention, including 640 individual cases.

Have you never tormented people by pulling out their nails?

On the 16th of April 2014 a relative of journalist Omar Abdelmaqsoud said to el Watan newspaper that during his visit to the young journalist in Meet Ghamr police station he saw marks of torture on his body as a result of electrocution, flogging, one of his hands was fractures, his nails were pulled out and seeing him like this his father collapsed.

In the case of the murder of citizen Mohamed Hamdan Mohamed Ali, his brother told el Bedaya that upon examining the body of his brother “we found signs of sever torture on his body, his nails were pulled out, injuries and bruises in addition to 12 bullets in different parts of his body indicating that he was tortured and liquidated in cold blood. We can only pray to God to avenge the killing of my brother”.

On the 13th of May El Bedaya quoting the Bread and Freedom party published about the death of Ezzat Abdel Fattah in the Matareyya police station , where he was tortured to death for four days for refusing an insult by the officers. The police station then transferred his body secretly to el Matareyya hospital where his family noticed signs of the sadistic torture he suffered: cigarette burns in all parts of his body, nails pulled out, cut wounds in the head and neck, all of which were injuries later confirmed by the prosecution.

On the 8th of February 2015 Masr El Arabia published about the death of Mohamed Abdel Aati, 19 years old, who was killed with 8 bullets while his hands were handcuffed to his bed in Imbaba general hospital. His sister says “Opening the morgue and seeing his body was a totally different matter.. his body was totally mutilated.. his body was not only covered by the 8 bullet holes but one of his fingers was amputated, another finger half amputated, his nails were pulled out, in addition to several bruises in various parts of his body.” The father says” when I washed him for the burial I found 7 bullet holes in his stomach and chest and another in his thigh in addition to two amputated fingers, and injuries in his back, head and feet.

On the 24th of July a facebook page published a picture of the pulled out toe nails of Sayed Haridi who died under torture in the Matareyya police station the same day.

In January 2016 we documented, from the media, 42 cases of torture, including 4 collective torture and maltreatment as well as 8 people who died under torture or were killed after being tortured. 42 cases of torture and the year had hardly just begun!

Last, but not least, comes the farce of the investigation of the death of Guilio Regini by officer Khaled Shalabi, head of Giza investigation department. We wish to remind you that on the 18th of June 2003 Alexandria criminal court sentenced three Montazah police station officers to a suspended sentence of one year in case no. 67909/2000 for killing citizen Shawki Ahmed Abdel Aal under torture. Among the convicted officers were the same Khaled Shalabi, Haitham elkilani and Abdelghaffar El Deeb. Instead of the convicted officer being expelled or sent into retirement he returned to his job and was appointed head of Giza investigation department by since December 2015 and is now investigating the case of Giulio Regini.

So don’t complain about rumors.

Your repeated statement that you are dealing with the incident the way you deal with Egyptians does not exclude your involvement in the killing of Regini. It could be taken as an indication thereof.

Don’t count on us forgetting. Because we don’t.