Two political activists arrested during protests on the anniversary of the January 25 Revolution were subject to torture by police forces, political activist and spokesperson for the Al-Dostour Party Khaled Daoud said Sunday on his Twitter account.
According to a Facebook page established in the detainees’ support called “Freedom for the brave,” activists Khaled el-Sayed and Nagy Kamel were detained at Azbakeya police station and were then transferred to Abu Zaabal prison.
They were “stripped of their clothes, splattered with water and savagely beaten,” according to the Facebook page. Sayed and Kamel were scheduled Sunday to stand before the court for prosecution investigations.
As soon as Sayed and Kamel arrived to court they began chanting against the police and the military, accompanied by a number of young people who chanted with them, according to the Facebook page.
Lawyers are seeking to document their maltreatment in order to present it as evidence before the prosecution. “The Azbakeya youth complained of severe torture, some reported electrocution. The police continue to threaten them with torture,” said lawyer Mahmoud Belal, adding that the head of the prosecution refused to interfere in the case, saying they were not his “responsibility.”
Their defense lawyer, Yasmine Hossam, condemned authorities’ abuse of the defendants’ right to speak with their lawyer privately. She said the activists’ heads were shaved in an “unusual way, different from the other prisoners, they were in bad health condition and were put in separate cells,” adding that they are being mistreated inside jail, she told El-Wady news website on Feb. 6 after visiting the prisoners.
Human rights and political activists have launched a campaign attacking the physical abuse the young detainees are facing, using Twitter hashtags such as #expose_them, #freedom_for_khaledelsayed, #freedom_for_nagykamel, #AbuZaabalprison, #freedom_for_the_brave, #MOI_thugs, and a hashtag that translates into “torture is a crime that time can’t erase.”
The “freedom for the brave” page also reported on several other detainees who are being exposed to different types of torture and verbal threats.
