Human rights NGO presses charges against officer accused of whipping man in police station

The Arab Penal Reform Organization (APRO) pressed charges on Thursday against a high-ranking police officer accused of whipping a man who came to file a complaint at the Tanta police station.

Hassan Saber al-Sayed Ibrahim claims that he went to the police station on April 18 to report a conflict he had with his neighbor, whereupon a top officer took him into his office, verbally and physically assaulted him, and then lashed him with a whip, the state-owned news site Ahram Gate reported. Ibrahim reportedly sustained several injuries in the incident.

The prosecutor general of Sohag referred Ibrahim to the forensic authorities, who reportedly examined him and will file a report with the prosecution. Ahram Gate did not state the conclusions of the forensic team’s report.

APRO is a non-governmental organization that says it’s committed to defending human rights across the Arab world. In the charges filed on Thursday, APRO called on the prosecutor general to investigate the incident and take the necessary steps against the perpetrator of the attack, who should be tried in a criminal court, the group said.

Accounts of sometimes deadly incidents of torture taking place across Egypt’s prisons and police stations have become rampant in recent months. In February, lawyer Karim Hamdy was found dead in his cell at the Matareya police station after reportedly being brutally beaten while he was interrogated. An autopsy report stated that his fatal injuries were consistent with those caused by torture — Hamdy’s ribs were broken, severe trauma to the head had caused bleeding in his brain, and he was found to have bruises across his body, concentrated in the head and abdomen.