On international day against torture, El Nadim: they closed the clinic, but our support continues!

On February 9, 2017, a police force from the Azbekiya Police Department, reportedly with a representative from the Ministry of Health, closed the Nadim Center clinic with red wax.

Since then the wax has melted leaving shreds of tape. Since then, also, we await a court decision in a case that was filed by our lawyer the following day contesting the closure.

Although the clinic is closed, providing rehabilitation and support did not stop for a moment even during the closure period. For El Nadim team, the support and rehabilitation of victims of violence and torture is not linked to a particular place, but is driven by the determination of a medical team that cannot – after having witnessed and heard what torture and violence does to the human psyche – cannot ignore what it knows about the spread of this crime and withhold assistance to those who need it most.

On the international day against torture, El Nadim team releases this paper to confirm that it still exists as an idea and service, receiving survivors of torture and violence and providing whatever help it can.

 That is why we wish to share with you some numbers of the rehabilitation service we provided over a period of 28 months since the closure of the clinic. We promise to continue mission, until we realize a dream of a nation without torture.

We also wish to note that since 2014 El Nadim has stopped publishing torture testimonies by our clients to protect their security and safety. That is why we have not published any books since then. However, since combat of torture continues to be the mission of the center we continue to provide Egyptian public opinion with a media archive that summarizes certain violations of human rights (Extrajudicial killings, death in detention, medical neglect in detention, individual and collective torture and maltreatment and forced disappearance) in a media archive that we publish every months and then annually. It is our hope that such an archive would draw the attention of Egyptian public opinion and, hopefully, officials, to the extent of oppression and injustice, which neither builds a society, nor achieves security and stability. We continue to hope that one day justice will be made and perpetrators will be held accountable.

Since the closure of the clinic, 9 February 2017, until now El Nadim rehabilitation team has received 156 survivors of violence and torture and held 1112 psychological support sessions to old and new clients. The new clients included 83 males and 73 females, of the following age groups:

Of the following nationalities

N.B. One of the major drawbacks of the closure of the clinic is our inability to receive as many refugees as we did before. At present they are referred to other organizations that provide help to refugees and asylum seekers

Residence

Source of referral

N.B. During earlier periods since the foundation of El Nadim our main sources of referral were the press and the media in general followed by NGOs. Since the closure of the clinic, former clients and friends have become the main source of referral.

Type of violence causing the trauma 

N.B. the number of traumas exceeds the number of clients, because some of them have been subjected to more than one type of violence.

Finally, we would like to note that since its foundation, El Nadim has provided rehabilitation support to close to 5025 survivors of violence and torture