CAIRO: Two police officers are under investigation after two teenagers alleged that the officers ordered other prisoners to rape them at a police station, prosecution officials said Wednesday.
A lieutenant and first lieutenant at the Kafr El-Sheikh station allegedly ordered older prisoners to rape the teenage boys, ages 16 and 17, after the two were arrested for drug possession last week and ordered detained for four days, the officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media about the case.
After their release, the teenagers families filed a complaint with the local prosecutor s office, and a forensic examination taken after they left police custody showed they were recently sexually abused, the officials said.
The Egyptian government has not confirmed the investigation. But on Wednesday, the Interior Ministry released a statement saying the police director of the Kafr El-Sheikh station, a police general and two of his senior assistants were removed from their posts and transferred to administrative jobs. The statement did not elaborate.
But the prosecution officials said the transfers were related to investigations at the station, located about 180 km north of Cairo. It was not immediately known if the two teenagers have been charged with drug possession.
Human rights groups say torture, including sexual abuse, is routinely used at police stations and in the interrogation of prisoners, but the government denies it is systematic. In recent years, the Interior Ministry, which supervises detention facilities, has investigated many officers on allegations of torture.
Some officers have been indicted, convicted and received prison sentences, but the punishments have not been harsh even in cases were the victim died because of torture. Many officers have also been pardoned before the end of their sentences.
Last week in a high-profile case, an Egyptian court convicted two police officers and sentenced them to three years in prison for torturing and sexually abusing a 22-year-old bus driver.
During the trial, the driver, Emad El-Kabir, recounted to the judge how two officers sexually abused him and used a cell phone to film the abuse.
That cell phone video appeared on several Egyptian blogs and later YouTube. The trial was the first in Egypt involving video that was circulated on the Internet. Associated Press
