Rights groups condemn violations on revolution anniversary

Several rights organizations condemned the Egyptian state's excessive force in dispersing protests on the fourth anniversary of the January 25, 2011 revolution. At least 25 people were killed and 516 arrested on Sunday, according to official reports.

“The violations were much more gruesome than last year, even though we thought last year was the worst that could happen. The number of detainees is much higher, and the method of dispersing protests was more brutal,” Hend Nafea, head of the Rights Defenders Program at the Hisham Mubarak Law Center, told Mada Masr.

She made the comments following a press conference held in the center on Wednesday to report state violations on January 25.

The center condemned the excessive force used against protesters, especially in Matareya and Aim Shams, where the majority of casualties occurred in clashes that stretched on for two days.

The center was only able to track down the locations of 198 of the 516 people the Ministry of Interior announced were arrested on Sunday, as the prosecution and ministry officials continue to withhold information about the detainees.

Nafea said that the center has submitted a report about the forced disappearances to the prosecution.

The center also alleged that lawyers were not allowed into the Azbakeya police station on January 25 to obtain the names of the detainees held there.

Ahmed al-Barabry is an April 6 Youth Movement member who was arrested while protesting in front of the Journalists Syndicate on January 25 and released late the following night. He recounted being dragged on the floor by a police officer and a civilian man after police forces attacked the protest with the help of civilian bystanders.

Barbary was taken in a group of more than 20 people to the Abdeen police station before being transported to the Azbakeya police station, and finally to Al-Salam camp. The detainees were severely beaten and insulted in each location, and kept in inhumanely crowded cells, he said. Low-ranking officers told them that lawyers who came to inquire about their whereabouts were turned away and told that there was no one there, Barbary added.

Eventually, Barbary was released from Al-Salam camp along with 20 others at 2 am on the night of January 26. They were let go on a highway, where they were chased and threatened by police forces, he claimed.

Several other organizations also released statements on Wednesday, including the Cairo Institute of Human Rights Studies and the Arabic Network for Human Rights, condemning state violations on Sunday and demanding immediate investigations.