Cart driver tortured to death in Ameereya

A 50-year-old cart driver was tortured to death in the eastern Cairo district of Ameereya earlier this week, allegedly at the hands of police, according to his family, although the Interior Ministry denied this.

Magdy Makeen’s nephew, Hany Girguis, told Mada Masr on Thursday that his uncle was running a work errand with two other young men, Mohsen Zaky and Mahmoud al-Araby, when their cart hit a police truck full of security personnel from Ameereya Police Station on Sunday. The truck chased the cart, overturned it, and 10 low-ranking police officers beat the three men.

“The police officer in charge intervened and kept beating and swearing at my uncle,” Girguis said, adding that his uncle swore back at the officer. “My uncle never tolerates insults,” he said.

Having been heavily beaten, Makeen was dragged through the streets for quite a distance, before the three men were taken to the police station, where the torture reportedly continued.

The family only heard about Makeen’s death on Monday morning. “When we arrived, hospital administrators told us he was already dead when he arrived at 3.30 am,” Girguis said. The police officer who brought Makeen to the hospital told doctors he was arrested around 3.15 am, contradicting the testimonies of the two young men who were arrested with him.

There were signs of extreme torture on the faces of the two young men, who according to Girguis were told to say Makeen had fainted suddenly during interrogations, or they would be accused of dealing drugs.

“Both refused and insisted that my uncle was tortured to death, and they are still being held at the police station,” Girguis added.

A video published by the independent Al-Bedaya website shows footage of blood on Makeen’s back, but is blurred-out in some parts due to its graphic content.

The family’s lawyer Ali al-Halawany said the forensic report proves there were clear signs of torture on Makeen’s body.

While the Interior Ministry’s spokesperson Tarek Ateya was not available to comment on Girguis’ accusations, he denied Makeen died as a result of torture in press remarks, asserting that the cart driver died due to extremely low blood pressure, and was arrested with two others in possession of 2,000 Tramadol pills.

“As an institution, it is not in our interests to cover up for a police officer if he is convicted of committing a crime, because a police officer is just like any other citizen, and no one is above the law,” Ateya said, adding that the ministry has launched an internal investigation into the case and the public prosecution is investigating the claims made by Makeen’s family.

Ameereya police station has been implicated in a number of previous torture cases. In September, Mohamed Ibrahim was heavily beaten and tortured at the police station, which district parliamentarian Mohamed Abdel Ghany condemned in press remarks. “The comeback of such practices does not favor the state,” Ghany said.

High school student Abdel Rahman Tarek was also shot dead by a police officer from Matareya, following a dispute with the victim’s father in December 2013. Video footage showed the family of the victim heavily beating the officer implicated in his death.

On Wednesday, a policeman was sentenced to life in prison for fatally shooting a tea vendor in April. The court found Sayed Zeinhom guilty of shooting Mostafa Mohamed with the firearm in his possession, and wounding two passersby by in the Cairo suburb of Rehab City. According to a statement published by the Ministry of Interior, the incident occurred after Zeinhom refused to pay the price the vendor set for his tea.

Police torture is an endemic practice in Egypt, with a number of cases reported every month. Human rights organizations have criticized the state’s reluctance to institute widespread reforms, although occasionally police personnel have been convicted of what the ministry claims are isolated offenses.

In February, policeman Mostafa Abdel Hassieb shot dead a taxi driver in Cairo’s low-income district of Darb al-Ahmar following a dispute over the fare. This resulted in Abdel Hassieb’s beating and hospitalization, and a wave of popular protests in Darb al-Ahmar. Abdel Hassieb was sentenced to life imprisonment in April.

In August a policeman shot dead a microbus driver in the south-eastern Cairo district of Maadi after his colleague’s vehicle collided with the microbus. This incident sparked a microbus drivers’ strike in Maadi. In response, the Ministry of Interior issued a statement claiming the policeman had merely fired “a warning shot in the air from the gun in his possession, which resulted in the accidental death of the driver.” He is currently standing trial.