A parliamentary question on the hidden files of torture

Dr. Hamdi Hassan, Assistant Secretary-General of the Muslim Brotherhood Parliamentary bloc, aimed a question to the Prime Minister and Ministers of Justice and the Interior, On the report which cleared the General-Prosecutor and the Ministry of Interior of the charge of torturing the martyr Yusof Abu Zohri, one of HAMAS soldiers, who was killed as a result of torture in one of the Egyptian prisons. 

The MP added that this matter has opened other files about the killing of political activists, ordinary people and innocent citizens, as a result of torture in Egyptian prisons and detention centers. The death of Yousef Abu Zohri opened the file of Eng Akram Zohiry’s death inside Abu Zaabal Prison, where at that time a committee of the Parliament which included about 20 MPs who to prisons and witnessed the horrors experienced by those detained in custody of flagrant violations, where the administration of the prison used to allowed State Security officers to take and torture them severely and some cases of torture resulted in breaking ribs and extremities.

The administration of the prison had to send two of these detainees directly to the hospital due to their critical conditions. Right after these two incidents,the Attorney General prevented the Committee from carrying on with their work, claiming that this is contrary to the investigations carried out. Despite the situation of victims, testimonies of the MPs and the Committee’s report, the General-Prosecutor closed this file.

This recent incident reminds us with the death of the citizen Mosaad Qutb, few days after his arrest in Ramadan 2003. Despite the fact of the presence of a mashed head with one ear cut, none of the State Security officers accused of torture has been tried so far. Qutb’s file is still remaining because of the injustice of the General-Prosecutor, negligence of the Minister of Justice and Minister of the Interior who went unpunished.

It also re-opened the file of Tarek al-Ghannam, who was killed inside a mosque in Daqahleya governorate. It was proven that his death was a result of a high proportion of toxic gases in the blood which reached up to 45%. This of course was a crime committed by the police forces which sprayed citizens with tear gas in crowded and closed areas resulting in their deaths.

Once again the General-Prosecutor did not bring them to justice and they are still free.

The MP added that the continued files and hiding it without publicizing the actions taken allows criminals to go unpunished and is also a crime committed by the General-Prosecutor to hiding crimes and protecting criminals.