By Tamim Elyan
CAIRO: A suspect allegedly arrested during investigations of the attack on Al-Qeddesine (The Church of Two Saints) in Alexandria was tortured to death by state security officials, human rights groups said.
A bombing that targeted worshipers leaving the church after New Year’s Mass left 23 dead and over 90 injured. Initial reports suggested a car bomb caused the explosion, but the Ministry of Interior later indicated that it was a suicide bombing.
Sayed Belal, 30, was arrested on Wednesday night in Alexandria’s Al Raml district, according to reports by human rights groups and the local press. Twenty-four hours later, his family received his dead body and was instructed to bury him without a funeral on Thursday.
“The confirmed information we have now is that [Sayed] Belal was a Salafi — adhering to strict interpretation of Islam — and was suspected of being involved in the attack last Saturday,” Hafez Abu Saeda, the head of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights, told Daily News Egypt.
“His family is under pressure to remain silent on the issue,” Abu Saeda added.
According to Al-Ghad Party Head Ayman Nour, the police have detained Sayed Belal’s brother, Ibrahim Belal, in order to prevent him from making any statements regarding his brother’s death.
In a video that allegedly shows Belal’s body, signs of torture are apparent. The video has been widely circulating throughout social networking websites.
According to neighbors’ accounts, Belal was bearded, lived close to the Thahereyya train station, and was very recently married.
Meanwhile, in a recent Ministry of Interior press statement, the ministry stated that — amid the body parts found at the scene of the church attack — it recently found the head of an unknown man who is now suspected to belong to the individual who carried out the alleged suicide bombing.
Early reports suggested that the suspect held the nationality of a central Asian country; however, security officials have since stated that the person who carried out the church attack was likely an Egyptian citizen.
In a report in the state-run daily Al-Ahram, the body was identified as of an unemployed young man from Egypt’s Nile Delta region.
The sketch published by the ministry of the suspect, based on the remains found, was said to resemble a member of Al-Ghad opposition party. However, Nour stated that after reviewing the party’s membership rosters, there was no indication that the suspect was an Al-Ghad member.
In a press statement, Nour said that the sketch resembles a lawyer in the Nile Delta region who is still alive.
