The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights
PRESS
RELEASE
Police excesses and the difficulty of obtaining evidence |
11 February 1999
Today, Wednesday 10 February 1999, the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) issues its second report of 1999 under the title "Torture - Police excesses and the difficulty of obtaining evidence." This is the seventh EOHR report on torture, ill-treatment and other excesses committed by members of the police against citizens in police stations. These reports are issued in the context of EOHR's ongoing campaign against torture. The report reviews around 40 cases of torture of citizens in more than 15 police stations in various Egyptian governorates, from Aswan in the south to Alexandria in the north. In addition, it presents two cases of death in police stations on which there is strong evidence that they may have occurred as a result of torture. The first of these took place in the Maadi police station and involved Gamal Abdalla Mohamed; the second occurred in Kalyoub police station and the victim was Shaaban Mohamed Abdel Gawad. The report points out to the many obstacles that hamper any attempts to prove the occurrence of torture. These obstacles have been divided into the following categories: legal obstacles related to the provisions which provide protection for policemen accused of the practice of torture; procedural obstacles concerning the procedures necessary to prove the occurrence of torture, mainly among which are forensic reports; obstacles related to victims' statements; obstacles resulting from the pressure exerted by the perpetrators on the victims; and lastly, obstacles resulting from the disregard shown by the competent bodies towards the complaints made by human rights organizations on incidents of torture. Perhaps of fundamental importance in this report is that all the cases included involve ordinary citizens who do not belong to any political trend and are not accused in political cases. They were all subjected to torture in connection with criminal cases. The report also explains the work mechanisms of the police in their search for suspects in criminal cases, and the use of torture as a main method to obtain confessions as the ultimate evidence. This has led in many cases, some which are mentioned in the report, to the referral to court of innocent persons based on their confessions for crimes they did not commit. Thus, when they deny their confessions in front of the court, confessions become the weakest evidence. Torture does not only reflect the disregard shown by the security bodies for the value of human beings, but also a weakness in the work mechanisms of these bodies when investigating a crime and collecting evidence. The report relies mainly on the findings of EOHR missions, police records and reports, forensic reports, witnesses' testimonies, complaints received and verified by the EOHR, as well as on rulings made by the Egyptian judiciary condemning many policemen in cases of torture. The report is divided into three parts: The first part reviews the legal and procedural obstacles faced by the victims of torture, which lead to the perpetrators being granted impunity and open the door for the repeated use of torture in police stations and other places of detention. This part also points out to the serious issue of the double standard of judicial rulings with respect to torture crimes. One case may be administratively closed by the public prosecution, thus denying the victim the right to file a criminal suit. At the same time, the civil judiciary may issue a ruling ordering compensation for a civil claimant, thus proving the occurrence of torture in a case that was previously closed by the prosecution. Part two includes cases of torture and ill-treatment in police stations monitored by the EOHR in 1998 through the complaints it received, fact-finding mission reports and court rulings. In this part, the EOHR reviews in detail two cases in which the accused confessed to murder crimes they had not committed after being subjected to severe torture. It later transpired that no crime had actually taken place. The court referred the case to the public prosecution to take the necessary steps. Part two ends with cases of death in police stations. Part three includes previous EOHR recommendations and stresses their importance in the context of the organization's campaign against the use of torture. It should be noted that the cases included in this report are not all the cases of torture that took place in police stations in Egypt, but only those which the EOHR was able to document. They, however, highlight a major fact, i.e. that torture is practiced in police stations in Egypt from Aswan in the south to Alexandria in the north. Finally, the EOHR issues this report on torture and ill-treatment in police stations in Egypt in the hope that it will spur civil society institutions, political parties, and intellectuals to work together to stop the violations and excesses faced by citizens in places of detention, and to urge the Egyptian government to take prompt and serious steps to stop these violations which threaten human rights in Egypt.
