The Arab Organisation for Penal Reform has called on the Ministry of Interior to pay compensation to over 30 torture victims who were tortured while in police custody.
Head of the human rights group, Mohamed Zare’, said the group contacted the Minister of Interior, Mohamed Ibrahim Moustafa, over 16 people who have court rulings to receive compensation from the ministry. On Wednesday, the group addressed the minister with the names of 15 more people.
Zare’ has worked on at least 160 cases like this. Many of these court rulings were handed down before the 25 January Revolution. One of the court rulings was handed in 2005.
Zare’ does not believe that the ministry is deliberately putting off paying: “The ministry does not have enough money to pay the compensations… every time the ministry’s treasury receives money it gets emptied in compensation to a number of victims… The sum of the money needed is estimated to be in the millions.”
Torture cases have continued even after the revolution and one of the latest complaints the human rights group is working on is a torture incident that happened three days ago in Assiut. The victims’ torture marks are currently being documented, in preparation for the case.
Victims who do decide to seek compensation through the judiciary are often pressured even after they are handed the court rulings.
Zare’ said: “This is why torture in Egypt is systematic… people are asked to drop the charges… it happens all the time,”
The Arab Organisation for Penal Reform is going to approach the presidency and the Shura Council with suggested amendments to laws that make it possible to get away with torture.
A spokesperson for the ministry could not be reached at the time of publication.
