Tag: torture

El-Adly Videogate: Imbaba abuse victim receives 3 months in prison!

Posted on By 3arabawy

I’ve just received news that Ihab Magdi Farouk has been sentenced today to three months in prison, on charges of “mobile phone theft.”

I was told by an EOHR lawyer who’s following the case that the Imbaba police agents are hysterically involved behind the scenes to try to reach a deal with Ihab, so as to drop the police brutality charges against the Imbaba Police Station agents, whose trial is coming up on 3 March.

The worrying developments, the lawyer I spoke to said, includes Ihab’s refusal to give the power of attorney to the EOHR lawyers, and instead using another lawyer his family brought him. “The lawyer is being pressured by one of the police corporals to drop the case,” he said. “There’s so much happening behind the scenes that we are not aware of.”

How’s Emad, by the way?

Posted on By 3arabawy

I have to say I’m really disappointed by the lawyers and investigative journalists who are handling/following Emad Kabeer’s case.

Where the hell is Emad now? I heard yesterday from a blogger that Emad had been transferred to Damanhour Prison. Is that true? Why Damanhour Prison which is far away from the eyes of his family and lawyers in Giza and Cairo? Why hasn’t the lawyers been updating us about the guy’s condition in prison?  It is as if his case was closed and forgotten since he was sentenced to three months in prison for “resisting authorities.”

Every single one involved in the case had expressed concerns about Emad’s safety in prison when he was sentenced in January. Rights activists expressed fears of Emad being intimidated in prison, away from the world’s eyes, so as to either drop the case against Captain Islam Nabih, or change his story.

Al-Masry Al-Youm today, thankfully reminded us of Emad’s case, by publishing the minutes of the Prosecutor’s interrogation of lawyer Nasser Amin that took place last 25 November.

But that’s not enough! Hell, if we can even get daily updates about Emad’s condition in prison, then do it! To our journalist, lawyer and rights activist friends, do NOT forget Emad, and do NOT leave us in the dark here. Keep us updated please.

Abu Omar released?

Posted on By 3arabawy

I’m hearing news that Abu Omar, the cleric who was kidnapped by the CIA and rendered to Cairo where he was tortured, has been finally released, but under orders not to speak to the media.

UPDATE: Here’s a report by Aziz el-Kaissouni:

Egypt frees cleric at center of CIA kidnap case
By Aziz El-Kaissouni
CAIRO, Feb 11 (Reuters) – Egyptian authorities have released a Muslim cleric kidnapped in a suspected CIA operation in Italy and handed to Egypt, the cleric’s lawyer said on Sunday.
Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, was grabbed off a Milan street in 2003 and flown to Egypt, where he said he had been tortured by Egyptian agents using electric shocks, beatings, rape threats and genital abuse.
Lawyer Montasser al-Zayat told Reuters Nasr had been released and was back with his family.
Zayat said a court had ordered Nasr to be freed, and the Ministry of Interior had complied. He added that the release was unsurprising as he saw no obvious reason why Nasr should remain in custody any longer.
“I expected that the justifications for his detention are done with. It’s no longer a secret,” Zayat said.
While Nasr was initially charged with membership of an illegal organization, the charges were ultimately dropped, and Nasr was briefly released in April 2004 before being detained without charge under Egypt’s emergency laws.
His lawyer had said he believed Nasr was re-arrested after ignoring warnings not to speak to anyone about the kidnapping and rendition.
Asked whether Nasr would remain silent as to what had happened to him during his time in detention, Zayat said Nasr had “(chosen) to live, and avoid the painful years he’s lived through … he wants to raise his children.”
Zayat had previously told Reuters state security prosecutors had denied him access to all of the case documents, including forensic reports which could have proven Nasr was tortured in detention. Nasr had also attempted suicide on three occasions, Zayat had said.
International rights groups say torture is systematic in Egyptian jails and police stations. Egypt says it does not condone torture, and that it only occurs in isolated instances.
Nasr’s release comes as an Italian judge was considering whether to indict 32 suspects, including Italy’s former spy chief and a group of Americans believed to be CIA agents, in connection with the kidnap.
If tried, the case would be the first criminal procedure over renditions, one of the most controversial aspects of U.S. President George W. Bush’s global “war on terror”.
Washington acknowledges secret transfers of terrorism suspects to third countries, but denies torturing suspects or handing them to countries that do.