'Widespread' torture in Egypt

A report by the human rights organisation Amnesty International has described "widespread and indiscriminate" incidents of torture and ill-treatment in Egyptian police stations and detention centres.

Amnesty alleges that thousands of detainees in Egypt have been subjected to torture and ill-treatment over the years.

Hundreds or thousands of torture complaints have never been properly investigated

Amnesty International

The report, entitled "Egypt: Torture Remains Rife as Cries for Justice Go Unheeded", says the majority of abuses take place while the victims - who include women, the young and the elderly - are being held in police stations in connection with criminal investigations.

It says the perpetrators of torture are rarely brought to justice, even when the acts of torture have resulted in death.

There are, however, signs that this might be changing. In the most recent case cited by Amnesty, six prison officials were convicted and sentenced this month, for the death of Muhammad 'Issa, a prisoner in Wadi al-Natrun prison.

The report says that the most common forms of physical torture reported to human rights monitors are

• electric shocks
• beatings
• whipping
• suspension by the wrists or ankles
• suspension in contorted positions from a horizontal pole

But various forms of psychological torture have also been reported, including

• death threats
• threats of rape or sexual abuse of the detainees or their female relatives

The report speaks of a "significant reduction" in reports of torture of political detainees, something which it attributes to a decrease in the arrests of alleged members of armed Islamist groups in recent years.

"Despite this, reports of torture of political detainees continue, particularly when they are held incommunicado," the report says.

"Hundreds or thousands of torture complaints, lodged with the authorities, have never been properly investigated, contributing to a cycle of impunity which facilitates further torture."

Improvements

A spokesman for Egypt's Interior Ministry told the BBC he could not comment on the specifics of the report but insisted there had been improvements.

He said officers were now being taught human rights and humanitarian law. Any cases of torture, he said, were perpetrated by individuals and were not systematic.

Amnesty International identifies and welcomes "some positive steps" by the Egyptian authorities, such as the ban on flogging and caning in prisons announced in 2000.

But it says the Egyptian Government "continues to shirk its responsibilities" under national and international legislation, which both prohibit the use of torture and ill-treatment.

Amnesty accuses the Egyptian authorities of ignoring previous recommendations by national and international human rights organisations, as well as UN bodies.