Mohamed Salah el-Sanousi tortured and arrested for the second time

Mohamed Salah el-Sanousi tortured and arrested for the second time

Mohamed Salah el-Sanousi, 26 years, was arrested and detained for the second time in Burg al-Arab prison on 17 April, 2010, despite the release order issued by Cairo Criminal Court.The Interior Minister had rejected the decision and ordered his re-arrest once again.

On 29 March 2009, Mustafa Lotfy, police officer in Shobra al-Khema police station, arrested el-Sanousi following a quarrel between them. The officer took el-Sanousi to the police station and fabricated a drug trafficking case against him and possession of arms.

El-Sanousi was severely tortured and detained at the police station for a period of eight months pending investigations which is in complete violation of the law and constitution.

The officer hung el-Sanousi from his legs and beat him all over his body and burnt him with cigarettes in sensitive parts of his body. He stripped him of his clothes in front of other detainees also electrocuting him on sensitive parts of his body. El-Sanousi was humiliated with his hand and legs tied for 4 days and he was made to eat in inhumane circumstances, he was also forced to clean toilets

El-Sanousi’s mother, Wafaa Mohamed Abdel Naby, filed many complaints regarding the torture of her son to the Attorney General, the Inspection department of the Ministry of Interior, the Minister of Justice, Minister of Interior, Prime Minister and even the President. However no action was taken in this regard.

He was tried before the Criminal Court which cleared him of all charges and released him on November 4, 2009.

Officer Mustafa Lofty refused to implement the decision of the judiciary and kept him illegally detained at Shobra police station without any justification. He asked for his re-arrest where he wrote to the Interior Minister informing him that el-Sanousi is a threat to public order. Upon that an arrest warrant was issued for el-Sanousi’s re-arrest on November 25, 2009.

El-Sanousi’s mother challenged the warrant in Criminal Court which ruled in her favour however the verdict was defied and el-Sanousi was arrested and tortured once again.

On March 17, Mohamed and a group of other detainees were, again, transferred to Borg Al-Arab prison after the issuing of another arrest warrant on April 5, and he was seen with marks on his face and arms, he was also unable to walk on his left leg. He told his family that he was tortured by Officer Mohamed Fawzi, from Shobra al-Khema, on his arrest.

Actions against el-Sanousi are a great violation of the constitution and laws of the Criminal Procedures and Penal Code as well as the Emergency law. It disregards the release order of detainees and violates the principle of separation between authorities where the Executive Authority exceeded its powers and intervened in the affairs of the judiciary, violating the independence of the judiciary.

The Interior Minister abuses the powers given to him according to the Emergency Law in re-arresting individuals once they obtain a release order.

Furthermore, this violates Egypt ’s international commitments, especially the second paragraph from Article 4 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.