The Arabist

The Arabist

By Issandr El Amrani and friends.

Sexual abuse as a tool against dissidents

It's not the first time that Egyptian police rape people they arrest -- it happened several times a few years ago when the security services were conducting a pogrom against homosexuals. But the sheer barbarity of using sticks to sodomize dissidents (a claim now verified by several rights activists) tells you a lot about the nature of this regime and how it has gotten completely out of control. Here's a statement from a Kifaya on the matter:
A horrid torture festival in the Mubaraks' Abu Ghraib
Torture and Sodomizing

A new crime reveals Mubarak Jr's "New Thought" to continue his father's approach and to revive the memory of sexually attacking Egyptian women during last year's constitutional referendum that was enacted to extend the Mubarak dictatorship. State Security officers sodomized Mohammed El-Sharkawi, a young activist, using rolled cartoon paper for nearly 15 minutes. They tore his underwear and threatened to rape him. This came as part of the horrid torture festival that Karim Al-Shae'r, another activist, was exposed to in Kasr El Nil Police Station.

This is the peak of the crime that was recorded during interrogations in the State Security Prosecutor Bureau in Misr Al-Gadida. The crime started when they dragged El-Sharkawi on the ground from Ma'rouf st. to the entrance of a building at the cross road of Ma'rouf and Talat Harb streets, where he was brutally beaten. Lawyers who have seen him recalled torture perpetrated against Islamists. Afterwards, El-Sharkawi was blindfolded and taken in a blue microbus to what is thought to be Kasr El Nil Police Station where he was detained for 24 hours. There he was exposed to more torture.

According to lawyers, there is nearly no area on El-Sharkawi's body that is void of bruises, swells, or injury. This insinuates as stated by the lawyer and human rights activist, Gamal Eid, that the torture was perpetrated with extreme "spitefulness".

A few minutes after El-Sharkawi was kidnapped, State Security officers were dragging journalist Jihan Shaaban on the ground simply because she was accompanying Karim Al-Sha'er, each going to their home. Dina Samak and Dina Gameel were also dragged on the ground because they were present there. Dina Samak was injured and bruised. The fact that she is six months pregnant did not act as a deterrent to such attacks.

No respect to women and no respect to pregnant women is the slogan of the father and the son. No respect to honor. Both sexes are treated equally when it comes to sexual and physical assaults. Lawyers could not maintain their calmness when they saw the beastly marks of torture all over the activists' bodies. It was as if they were in Abu Ghraib-Mubarak.

According to the activists, the torture festival lasted for four hours before news spread that they are on their way to the prosecutor where the crime of the Mubarak Sr. and Jr. was revealed at around 11:30 pm.

The audacity of Mubarak's regime will not stop. It has found the boldness to harass lawyers and attempt to stop them from attending interrogations. After a verbal quarrel, authorities agreed for one lawyer to attend, then two, then three.

Before the prosecutor, El-Shrakawi and Al-Sha'er insisted that the torture that they have been exposed to should be registered in the interrogation files. They refused to make any statements until they are put before a delegated investigative judge. They demanded that they are sent to the forensic department. Until 1:00 a.m. the prosecutor continued to interrogate them, to decided, at the end, to detain the two activists for 15 days. They are accused of violating emergency law codes that prohibits more than five persons assembling. The prosecutor ordered that they are sent to the forensic department, if possible. This means that we will have to wait until Saturday at the least.

The prosecutor refused to allow a doctor who volunteered to make first aid treatment. There are doubts that El-Sharkawi's ribs are broken. The prosecutor also refused to transfer them to a hospital for treatment.

For a comprehensive coverage of Thursday's event:
Torture and Sodomizing

A new crime reveals Mubarak Jr's "New Thought" to continue his father's approach and to revive the memory of sexually attacking Egyptian women during last year's constitutional referendum that was enacted to extend the Mubarak dictatorship. State Security officers sodomized Mohammed El-Sharkawi, a young activist, using rolled cartoon paper for nearly 15 minutes. They tore his underwear and threatened to rape him. This came as part of the horrid torture festival that Karim Al-Shae'r, another activist, was exposed to in Kasr El Nil Police Station.

This is the peak of the crime that was recorded during interrogations in the State Security Prosecutor Bureau in Misr Al-Gadida. The crime started when they dragged El-Sharkawi on the ground from Ma'rouf st. to the entrance of a building at the cross road of Ma'rouf and Talat Harb streets, where he was brutally beaten. Lawyers who have seen him recalled torture perpetrated against Islamists. Afterwards, El-Sharkawi was blindfolded and taken in a blue microbus to what is thought to be Kasr El Nil Police Station where he was detained for 24 hours. There he was exposed to more torture.

According to lawyers, there is nearly no area on El-Sharkawi's body that is void of bruises, swells, or injury. This insinuates as stated by the lawyer and human rights activist, Gamal Eid, that the torture was perpetrated with extreme "spitefulness".

A few minutes after El-Sharkawi was kidnapped, State Security officers were dragging journalist Jihan Shaaban on the ground simply because she was accompanying Karim Al-Sha'er, each going to their home. Dina Samak and Dina Gameel were also dragged on the ground because they were present there. Dina Samak was injured and bruised. The fact that she is six months pregnant did not act as a deterrent to such attacks.

No respect to women and no respect to pregnant women is the slogan of the father and the son. No respect to honor. Both sexes are treated equally when it comes to sexual and physical assaults. Lawyers could not maintain their calmness when they saw the beastly marks of torture all over the activists' bodies. It was as if they were in Abu Ghraib-Mubarak.

According to the activists, the torture festival lasted for four hours before news spread that they are on their way to the prosecutor where the crime of the Mubarak Sr. and Jr. was revealed at around 11:30 pm.

The audacity of Mubarak's regime will not stop. It has found the boldness to harass lawyers and attempt to stop them from attending interrogations. After a verbal quarrel, authorities agreed for one lawyer to attend, then two, then three.

Before the prosecutor, El-Shrakawi and Al-Sha'er insisted that the torture that they have been exposed to should be registered in the interrogation files. They refused to make any statements until they are put before a delegated investigative judge. They demanded that they are sent to the forensic department. Until 1:00 a.m. the prosecutor continued to interrogate them, to decided, at the end, to detain the two activists for 15 days. They are accused of violating emergency law codes that prohibits more than five persons assembling. The prosecutor ordered that they are sent to the forensic department, if possible. This means that we will have to wait until Saturday at the least.

The prosecutor refused to allow a doctor who volunteered to make first aid treatment. There are doubts that El-Sharkawi's ribs are broken. The prosecutor also refused to transfer them to a hospital for treatment.
Here's a picture of Sharqawi from a recent demo:

Img 2280