Report: State-sanctioned abduction, torture on the rise in Egypt

Egypt’s National Security Agency (NSA) has escalated the abduction and torture of suspected dissidents since early 2015 in what human rights group Amnesty International calls an “unprecedented spike.” Egyptian authorities deny the accusation, made in a report released Wednesday, calling it part of a “political agenda.”

The report accused the NSA of detaining several hundred Egyptians, including children as young as 14, without trial or access to lawyers. Officials keep the detainees handcuffed and blindfolded and torture them until they make confessions used to convict them.

“Enforced disappearance has become a key instrument of state policy in Egypt,” Philip Luther, director of Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa Program, said yesterday in a written statement. “Anyone who dares to speak out is at risk, with counter-terrorism being used as an excuse to abduct, interrogate, and torture people who challenge the authorities.”

Amnesty International said three to four people are abducted every day, according to information gathered from local NGOs. Egypt has so far built or planned 10 new prisons in the past three years to house the rising number of detainees.

In 2013, Egypt’s interim government declared the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization, and membership in the group can incur the death penalty. A majority of people arrested by security forces are either perceived members of the Brotherhood or supporters of its most prominent leader, former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi.

Egyptian officials dismissed the report in a statement on the foreign ministry’s Facebook page. The ministry accused Amnesty International of bias and said it has a political agenda.

“Any objective reader can tell instantly that the organization’s reports depend on sources that reflect the opinion of one side and people that are in a state of hostility towards the Egyptian government,” the statement said.

The report documented 17 cases, including those of five children who disappeared for periods ranging from several days to seven months.

In one of the cases, armed police and NSA officers detained 14-year-old Aser Mohamed on Jan. 12 after raiding his family’s home without a warrant. NSA officers accused Mohamed of participating in a January hotel attack in Cairo. The security officials tortured Mohamed with electric shocks and suspended him from his limbs to make him confess. His family searched for him for 34 days, until he appeared before a state security prosecutor. He still remained in custody on July 1 and was scheduled to go to trial this week on charges that could result in 15 years imprisonment.

Amnesty called on the international community, particularly the U.S. and EU member states, to use its influence to pressure Egypt to end the abuses. Many Western powers consider Egypt an ally in counterterrorism efforts and have supplied the country with arms. The U.S. gave Egypt $1.3 billion in military aid this year.

“[Western nations] should cease all transfers of arms and equipment that have been used to commit serious human rights violations in Egypt until effective safeguards against misuse are established,” Luther said.