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Alert

Physician tortured over support for presidential candidate

(ANHRI/IFEX) - On 10 March 2010, the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) filed a complaint with the prosecutor general, asking him to address the investigation of state security officer Mohamed Abdel Tawab, who is accused of torturing Taha Abdel Tawab, a physician, in Cairo. The local Fayoum prosecution hesitated to call the officer in, thus giving him the chance to threaten the victim and leaving the impunity door open, as is usual in Fayoum.

State security officer Mohammed Abdel Tawab summoned the physician Taha Abdel Tawab, known for his support of Mohamed ElBaradei's nomination to the presidential elections, to the state security office in Senorus. There, the physician was sadistically tortured as a brutal punishment for expressing his opinion. He was then transferred to Senorus hospital in Fayoum in critical condition.

Although ANHRI lawyers filed a complaint against the officer, reporting the torture incident, the prosecution general in Fayoum showed reluctance and procrastination, and refused to summon the officer, who then began to pressure Taha Abdel Tawab to waive the complaint.

ANHRI requests that the prosecutor general forward the complaint to the technical office under his direct supervision and to proceed with the investigation of this incident so that the officer cannot get away with his crime, especially in the current climate of terrible repression in Fayoum. ANHRI previously issued a report on the many violation cases in Fayoum and yet the public prosecution did not take any measures against any of the officers involved.