An Egyptian citizen was reportedly tortured in Sudan in March 2015 when being investigated by officers from the Sudanese intelligence apparatus who suspected him of being a spy who was charged to take photos for military stationing points in Sudan.
Mahmoud Abdul Razek, 31, has run a private furniture business in Sudan since 2005. He told Daily News Egypt on Wednesday that he was subjected to assaults and insults from two officers in the Sudanese intelligence apparatus over the aforementioned charges.
The incident dates back to March 2015 when Mahmoud was at one of the public markets in the state of Sennar. He was approached by a Sudanese intelligence officer named Shams El Din who asked Mahmoud to provide personal photos of all Egyptians who are working in Sennar.
Mahmoud refused the demand as he would not be able to afford photos of every Egyptian living in Sennar. The officer then started following him around the markets.
Later, a 4×4 was waiting for Mahmoud in front of the hotel where he was staying with his brother. The vehicle was carrying eight people, all armed, and Shams El Din. They dragged Mahmoud into the vehicle and drove to a building affiliated with Sudanese intelligence.
“I was assaulted by two officers; one of them was Shams El Din. They questioned me about being an Egyptian spy. My passport and money were confiscated and they informed that Egypt is no longer a friendly state to Sudan after the military coup against Morsi,” Mahmoud explained.
Officers continued to insult the current Egyptian leadership and beat Mahmoud with sticks for nearly two hours. He was released the following morning. He headed directly to Khartoum and booked a flight back to Egypt.
“Directly after arriving at Cairo International Airport, I went to the nearest police officer and informed him about what happened. He and a superior officer listened to me for a minute and then called an officer from the Egyptian intelligence to hear my story, too. They then promised to take actions against the incident, but I didn’t hear anything back from them more than a week,” Mahmoud explained.
When there was still no official response, Mahmoud went to the Foreign Minister where he was informed that his report should be directed to the Interior Ministry.
“Officers from the National Security Apparatus at Cairo International Airport warned me against reporting the incident to media outlets, lest members of the Sudanese intelligence target me,” he said, explaining why he did not resort to the media until now.
The Foreign Ministry’s media office informed Daily News Egypt on Wednesday that the ministry’s officials are unaware of Mahmoud’s torture in Sudan.
Mistreatment of Egyptian expats remains rife. Earlier this week, video footage circulated on social media outlets of an Egyptian citizen being assaulted and stripped naked by the owner of a mobile store where the victim was working in Kuwait.
Following huge outrage caused by the aforementioned video, Kuwait’s interior ministry announced that the assailant is Abdullah Al-Shamri, born in 1976 and identified as bedoon (without nationality), according to an official statement issued on Sunday.
