Amnesty says Egyptian police, army continue abuses

Authors: Nehal El-Sherif and Pol O Gradaigh

   Cairo (dpa) - Amnesty International said Tuesday that Egyptian authorities must act urgently to reform the security forces and end human rights abuses.

   The London-based rights groups said that violent crackdowns on protesters, torture of detainees and disregard for the rule of law by police forces have continued in Egypt, nearly 20 months after mass rallies removed president Hosny Mubarak and his regime from power.

   Amnesty said in a report there was little sign that Egypt's security forces have fundamentally changed.

   The report says President Mohammed Morsi and the new government had so far taken no action against the widespread abuse of protesters and prisoners.

   "The different interior ministers that headed the police force since last year's uprising have repeatedly announced their commitment to reforming the police and respecting human rights, but so far reforms have merely scratched the surface," said Amnesty's Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui.

   While noting that abuses were less than before the revolution, Sahraoui told dpa: "It is not because things have changed but because (the police) know they are being watched."

   The rights group has sought a meeting with President Morsi but has yet to receive a response, Sahraoui said in Cairo as she launched the report.

   "This is disappointing as Amnesty International took action on behalf of Mohammed Morsi in 2006 when he was arrested, and later in 2011," she remarked.

   "This is the opportunity of a generation," Sahraoui said, stressing that the 2011 revolution happened because "Egyptians rebelled against abuses by the security forces."

   A first step would be to allow the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture to visit Egypt, according to Sahraoui.

   "Because the Mubarak government rejected any visit by the UN expert on torture so forcefully, I think it would signal that Egypt is taking it seriously now," she added

   The sister of one of the demonstrators killed when armoured cars ploughed through a Christian protest in October 2011 told reporters that "we are going from bad to worse."

   "When will President Mohammed Morsi realize the goals of the revolution... When will we feel that we have accomplished something?" asked Mary Daniel, whose brother Mina was among almost 30 people killed at the protest outside the state television building.

   Inadequate investigation of abuses was a consistent problem, Amnesty researcher Mohammed Lotfy said, with cases being referred to military courts "which cannot bring justice to the victims or act impartially."

   One attendee at the launch of the report in Cairo showed dpa his medical report after he was allegedly shot by an army sniper during clashes outside the Ministry of Defence in May.

   "The hospital refused to stamp the report," Tarek Abdel-Nabi told dpa. "And the police refused to file a case. An officer came to the hospital and I told him I wanted to file a case against the sniper. He said he would send someone to take the report and they never came. Then I fled from the hospital because it was surrounded by baltageyya (thugs)."

   Amnesty said that, under the rule of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), which governed Egypt for a year and half after the ouster of Mubarak in February 2011, human rights abuses were rampant, including the use of live ammunition against protesters.

   It highlighted several instances where police used lethal force during clashes with protesters in 2011 and 2012, and said that some protesters were given electric shocks, sexually threatened and abused by military troops.

Published 02.10.2012
Shorter version here