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Cell Phone Justice; Torture Video Leads to Police Convictions
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ShareNovember 06, 2007 10:41 AM
Two Egyptian policemen caught on tape abusing and sodomizing a male bus driver were convicted Monday in an Egyptian court.
Islam Nabih, a police captain, and Reda Fathi, a noncommissioned officer, were each sentenced to three years in prison.
"God is great! Thank God!" the victim Emad al-Kebir, 22, said after the ruling, according to press reports. "I regained my rights. I don't want anything more than that."
THE BLOTTER RECOMMENDS
The torturing of al-Kebir is only one of several cases of police brutality in Egypt caught on tape, as previously reported on the Blotter on ABCNews.com.
The videos, taken with cell phones, had been posted by Egyptian blogger Wael Abbas on his blog, "Egyptian Awareness," and on the popular video-sharing site YouTube.
While the videos have proved effective in bringing charges against some officers in Egypt, the Human Rights Watch World Report 2007 on Egypt said the organization "continues to receive credible reports that security services and police routinely torture and mistreat detainees."
In addition, bloggers and journalists who reveal incidences of torture by Egyptian police officers have found themselves charged with harming the national interest.
"Rather than eradicating torture, the government is eradicating coverage of torture and targeting journalists," Elijah Zarwan, a Cairo-based researcher for Human Rights Watch, told ABC News back in January.
Zarwan says Egypt needs to change its definition of torture to fit international standards. He explains that the current definition does not include psychological harm, for example.
Also, suspects who claim to have been tortured are often not seen by a doctor for weeks, which makes it difficult to establish if and how they were tortured, he says.
Another important step would be dropping emergency laws, which give the Egyptian government broad powers and allow it to detain people without charging them.
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November 6, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (11)
"Rather than eradicating torture, the government is eradicating coverage of torture and targeting journalists," Uh... gee... that sure sounds familiar.
Posted by: Jordan | Nov 6, 2007 3:26:23 PM
Poor guy. What a horrible thing to do.Those police abusing their powers should be in jail for life, or the closest they can get to that. There are some really sick people in the world.
Posted by: Cindy | Nov 6, 2007 4:42:10 PM
Just think of all of the things that occur in the U.S. I don't even have to mention Guantanamo.
But there are instances at airports where people die of torture, or peaceful protestors who get tased, or the famous "don't tase me bro" guy who was tased for asking John Kerry why he exited the race so abruptly. Turns out they are both skull and bones members.
I'm with Kennedy on the idea that secret organizations involving the rich and powerful should be exposed. But then again, if for the slightest reason they were helping the human race, I'd have no problem with it...but then why would it be secret?
Humans are sick little bipeds.
Posted by: Zafada | Nov 7, 2007 2:19:00 PM
Three years for rape, that is injustice
to the highest degree.
Posted by: GLYON | Nov 7, 2007 7:34:10 PM
LoL, I concur "Humans are sick little bipeds." Secret Society do exist it is only human nature to have them. This treatment although extreme and harsh, does happen all over the world; maybe even, on a daily bases.
Posted by: Adeeb N. | Nov 7, 2007 8:35:07 PM
Yes it does, Bush allows this, encourages it. Which is in direct violation of the Humans Rights listed in the Geneva Convention, but so far no one in the Media seems to have the Patriotic duty to question or investigate. WHY NOT MEDIA? Why not investigate the many National and International crimes by this administration?
Posted by: ljl | Nov 8, 2007 3:56:46 AM
3 yrs for rape/sodomy and torture? Indeed, the victim's injuries and emotional trauma from this ordeal, will last longer than that. Oh well, since the defendants were police officers and all, at least they were punished and the event was not "swept under the rug."
Posted by: shirley | Nov 8, 2007 4:26:16 AM
women in the Muslim world and Arab countries in particular, get this kind of torture ALL THE TIME, not only from police but their own relatives, no one is raising hell about it, nor does anyone gets punished, that is what the Arabs & muslims are about, and that is what they know. Go change it ... good luck
Posted by: mayolson | Nov 8, 2007 3:15:06 PM
Define torture... Sodomy, waterboarding, withholding contact w/ outside world, being held without charges, telephone book to the head, stress positions, its all extreme and unnecessary, since nobody they are torturing knows anything anyways. Its the Rumsfields, Wolfowitz and Cheneys that deserve to be put thru their own "enhanced interrogation techniques"!!! Ron Paul for Pres 2008
Posted by: john q citizen | Nov 9, 2007 2:50:06 AM
I love to listen to you crying liberals!
Posted by: Liberals are funny | Nov 12, 2007 1:39:34 PM
Liberals? Why are there terms for everything? Left wing, right wing, liberals, conservatives, neo-nazi, fascist, Islamo-fascism, liberals are funny, your mom, bilateral distribution...
I'm glad to see that some people care rather than think that these people who are tortured instigated the matter somehow.
It's almost like the humans who think that a woman gets raped because she wears a short skirt.
Posted by: Zafada | Mar 30, 2008 7:50:33 PM
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