5 defendants sentenced to 3 years prison in Rabea torture case

The Cairo Criminal Court sentenced five participants in the Rabea al-Adaweya sit-in to three years in maximum security prison, finding them guilty of holding a citizen hostage inside Rabea al-Adaweya Square, torturing him and amputating one of his fingers.

The prosecution had accused the defendants of attempted murder, the unlawful detention and torture of a citizen and possession of unlicensed weapons.

Protesters began camping at the Rabea and Nahda Squares after former President Mohamed Morsi’s ouster by the military on July 3, 2013, calling for the Islamist president’s reinstatement. The sit-ins witnessed clashes between protesters and security forces as well as area residents, which left over 100 dead prior to their brutal dispersal.

The state-owned Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported that General Prosecutor Hesham Barakat ordered the detention of the five defendants following investigations that purportedly revealed their involvement in “holding the victim against his will, torturing him, assaulting him with hands, feet and blades, tying him up inside a room in the vicinity of Rabea Square, forcing his head in water and torturing him using electricity, cutting off his left index finger, and trying to dispose of him in a secluded area in New Cairo due to suspicions they had that he committed theft in the sit-in.”

The victim was examined by forensic authorities, who said that his left index finger was amputated and that he suffered from cuts, bruises and abrasions on different parts of his body.

The defendants denied all charges. They claimed that after prayers one day during the sit-in, they heard that a thief had been captured and assaulted in the square, so they tried to rescue him and transport him out of the area in a car, reported the privately owned newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm (AMAY).

In July 2013, the Interior Ministry claimed at least 11 bodies were found in the areas around the Rabea and Nahda Squares bearing visible signs of torture. Muslim Brotherhood members were accused of committing acts of torture at the sit-ins and tried on the charges in 10 separate cases.