Alexandria police accused of torturing man to death

The family of Mahmoud Saeed Shehata, who died in custody on Tuesday, has accused Alexandria police of torturing him to death. Shehata was arrested on Monday for suspected involvement in the robbery of documents from the administrative prosecution office in Alexandria.

Lawyer Mohamed Ramadan told Mada Masr that police are claiming Shehata was arrested from the Massalla neighborhood for acting suspiciously, however his family asserted that he was arrested from his home in Werdian.

According to Ramadan, the arresting officer from the Attarein police station, where Shehata was held prior to his death, was known for frequently arresting, and then releasing him on the same day.

Shehata’s brothers were summoned to the station on Monday night where they were asked about his location at the time of the robbery, Ramadan said. They claimed to have seen their brother there, chained up and bleeding from his neck. They were unable to speak with him.

The next day the family received a call from the station, during which they were told that Shehata had “committed suicide in his cell using his underwear.”

Refuting the claims of suicide, the family is awaiting the results of the forensic report, which is yet to be issued Ramadan told Mada Masr.

Hesham Essam, a neighbor of the family, claimed that police pressured them to bury Shehata’s body without conducting a postmortem to minimize “fuss.” The family’s lawyer added that while an autopsy was completed and burial license issued, the cause of death was not mentioned as the issue was still under investigation.

A former member of Parliament, and member of the National Party also intervened, hoping to pressure the family out of speaking with the media, Essam alleged.

He told Mada Masr that the police station sent the family provisions for the funeral on Wednesday, which they refused, in an attempt to win their compliance.

The family filed the lawsuit 807/2017 on Thursday, two days after Shehata’s death, accusing the assistant investigating officer and one of the Attarein station’s informants of torturing him to death.

Despite numerous reports of deaths in custody and accusations of police torture, the Interior Ministry has repeatedly asserted that such incidents are rare isolated acts. In response several Egypt-based Human Rights organizations issued a collective statement in 2015 outlining various cases of torture at the hands of police.

According to a report published by Al-Nadeem Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence 16 people died in detention in January alone, while 49 faced torture at the hands of the police.

Established 24 years ago, the Al-Nadeem center was shuttered earlier this month accused of publishing human rights reports without a permit.