CAIRO: Allegations of torture surfaced Friday concerning the detainees accused of being members of Hezbollah and planning terrorist attacks in Egypt.
Lawyer for five of the detainees, Abdel-Moneim Abdel-Maqsoud, told Daily News Egypt that according to a released detainee, authorities had tortured them while in the custody of state security investigators.
The detainee, Adel Ghareez, had been left paralyzed as a result and was moved to hospital after his condition had deteriorated. His brother remains in custody.
“He was probably released because they thought he might die, Abdel-Maqsoud said, “until now I have not been permitted to see any of the detainees.
Ghareez claims the detainees were left naked in an air-conditioned room for 24 hours, and that cold water was poured into their detention cells.
Abdel-Maqsoud submitted a request to the Prosecutor General Thursday to meet his clients and be present during their interrogation.
The 49 suspects detained on suspicion of forming a cell affiliated to Hezbollah have been remanded in custody for a further 15 days for questioning.
Although many of them have been in the custody of state security for several months, the order to extend their detainment came from Prosecutor General Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud Thursday as he prepares to bring charges against them.
“The state prosecutor has received a statement from state security which shows that leaders from the Lebanese Hezbollah have called on its cadres to recruit members to its movement, Mahmoud said in a statement Wednesday.
The 49 detainees (one Lebanese, seven Palestinians and 41 Egyptians) face up to 25 years in prison if convicted of the charges that will be pressed against them: membership in Hezbollah, intent to spread Shiism and planning attacks on Egyptian soil.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said on Friday that one of the detained, Sami Shihab, is a Hezbollah member, but denied the group is seeking to destabilize the country.
Shihab, 39, a Lebanese and the main suspect in the case, had been taken into state security custody on Nov. 19, his brother told Asharq Alawsat newspaper. Shihab is accused of being the Hezbollah liaison with the cell. Others were remanded in the custody of state security near the end of March.
Islamist lawyer Montasser Al-Zayat, who is representing Shihab and 24 of the other detainees, castigated authorities for keeping them under wraps for so long with no chance for their lawyers to contact them or be present during their interrogations.
“For six months they have been in terrible condition under illegal custody, he told Daily News Egypt. “I have been unable to see them till now. We are currently trying to end their detainment which was based on a decision by the Minister of Interior under emergency law. The 15-day extension has come after their detainment.
Sources in Al-Arish had told Daily News Egypt that some of the arrests were carried out several months ago, with later arrests conducted in the intervening period up until the Prosecutor General’s announcement.
Additionally, they had indicated that the Egyptian detainees were suspected of being involved in tunnel smuggling into Gaza at the border town of Rafah.
