CAIRO: A Cairo court yesterday released on LE 5,000 bail a protestor charged with resisting the authorities.
The public prosecution office had ordered that Bahaa Saber – who says he was tortured in police custody – remain in custody for 15 days pending investigations into allegations that he resisted the authorities.
Lawyers from the Hisham Mubarak Law Center (HMLC) say that Saber was interrogated by the public prosecution office in the absence of lawyers. The request that Saber be transferred for forensic medical examination of his injuries was refused, they added.
The Nadeem Center for the Rehabilitation of the Victims of Violence suggests in a statement issued yesterday that this refusal “is the obvious wish of the prosecution to wait until Bahaa’s injuries are healed to cover up for the torture he suffered.
The appeal against the decision to remand Saber in custody was heard by the North Cairo Court.
At the time of going to press the court had still not issued a decision in the appeal.
Saber was bundled away in a taxi by police officers during a Kefaya demonstration on Tuesday afternoon. He alleges that police officers tortured him in the Boulaq Abol Ela police station until 8 pm that evening.