Physical evidence of torture in Egypt’s police station police as described by victim.

Ghannam Said Mahmoud, a teacher and  member of the Muslim Brotherhood in Al-Arish, revealed details of the assaults and torture  committed against him by members of the State Security services in El Arish in a handwritten letter sent from behind the  bars of Wadi Al Natron II prison.

He wrote that he and his colleague Alaa Issa had been arrested on August 29, 2009 under the pretext that they prevented the Imam of Al-Salam mosque from closing the mosque. These were fabricated lies since the security forces had initially banned them from performing the prayer and they had to perform the prayer outside the mosque’s courtyard. They were later presented to the prosecution which had decided on their immediate release.

The State Security officer Hossam El-Din Mesbah detained the victim on August 31 in the front of the mosque after the end of Tarawih (night prayers) where he was taken to his house. When Ghannam wanted to inform his wife, the officer slapped his face and rushed into the bedroom without any regards to the privacy of the house where he seized his wife’s mobile and personal ID. Mesbah raided the house in a barbaric manner and left; taking Ghannam with him to state security headquarters. 

Ghannam revealed that he was tortured daily where the officers electrocuted different parts of his body while he was blindfolded with his hands tied. The officer summoned him early the next day where they carried on the beatings and torturing despite his fasting.

He was stripped of all clothing and severe burns covered his whole body as a result of electrocution. His hands were bound behind his back and he was to remain standing until three o’clock in the morning.

Ghannam continues that they practiced brutal and repressive methods and again he was summoned in the morning of September 1st by the same officer where he was forced to stand facing the wall till the afternoon and was later placed in custody. The same measures were repeated after dinner and again he was taken into custody.

 It is worth noting that the arrest warrants were in fact issued by the Interior Ministry where the detainees were taken to state security headquarters and tortured for 10 days