New Ray of Hope as One More Egyptian Policeman Jailed for Sodomizing Citizen

Alexandria Criminal Court sentenced Saturday, Jan, 5th, 2008, three policemen to prison periods for psychologically and physically torturing an Egyptian citizen accused of theft. 

The three arrested the citizen in April 2006 and arrested and tortured him inside a police station. Police Major Yousri Ahmed Eissa, the police station chief, stripped the citizen fully naked and sodomized him. To ad insult to injury, he insisted on humiliating him in front of passers-by in the main road with the help of two other officers who forced this citizen to wear a woman”s nightgown and led him in the streets in front of people accompanied by beating and insulting. 

The court ruling- issued after several sessions- pleased the sodomized citizen whose first reaction was a feeling that he restored his dignity to he was stripped of it during these inhumane actions committed against him. He added that he will become a human being again after this ruling gave him his right which was violated by the officer who is sent to jail and hopefully won”t exercise torture against citizens again. 

officer Yousri Eissa was sentenced to five years in prison on charges of torturing and sodomizing a prisoner, in addition to paying a fine of 500 pounds and sacking him from his job. The other two policemen who took part in this incident were sentenced to one year in prison. 

For his part, Negad Al Boraie, a human rights activist, told Ikhwanweb that this step is a real response from the judges to people”s demands. He added this it is a right enforcement of law because there many texts of law related to torture crimes but they haven”t been used well. 

Negad Al Boraie expressed his happiness and optimism for these legal procedures. He pointed out that this shows the judiciary”s increasing concern over torture cases. There is an increasing desire to bring this file to a halt and stop those people who exercise torture because the Egyptian people are currently experiencing a kind of internal revolution against these conditions, which is clearly reflected in dealing with this kind of criminals and when tortures are discussed. 

Seeing as positive issuing verdicts to restore rights of the torture victims, Al Boraie called on the government to pursue committers of the torture crimes and bring them to justice. 

It is worth noting that this is not the first verdict of such a kind. It is actually preceded by two verdicts which were issued last November in the two cases of “Emad El Kabir ” and the case of ” Tilbana dead man” at Mansoura, in which 3 year sentences were issued by court against the policemen were committed the torture crimes in Emad Al Kabir”s case that made headlines at that time and drew the ire of the Egyptian public opinion. 

Negad Al Boraie saw that issuing such tough verdicts- though still not curbing such crimes or even stopping committers- show torturers and all people committers of such crimes will be brought to justice and held accountable whatever their position in the country.