Human rights activist denounces Egypt's military regime for sexually assaulting detainees

Egypt’s Addameer National Front has accused the Egyptian security forces and army of using sexual assault against political detainees as a policy to instil fear and suppress dissent among anti-coup activists, saying that the regime of former President Hosni Mubarak is now exercising revenge for the revolution, according to Al Matan Online news website.

Addameer’s senior member and human rights activist Nevin Malak told Al-Jazeera news channel that: “The military regime in Egypt practices physical torture against the detainees including lashing and kicking and using rape to break their spirit.”

Malak highlighted that nearly 20,000 detainees are currently languishing in Egyptian detention centres, pointing out that those being violated include all segments of the society and yet the judiciary is failing to uphold their rights.

She referred to the Guardian newspaper’s latest condemning report, which addresses systemic sexual crimes in Egyptian prisons, saying it is not the first of its kind and is preceded by several other reports and accompanying videos. Malak said an earlier report by the BBC revealed that Ayat Hamada acknowledged having been raped while in custody.

According to Malak, an international organisation documented the rape cases in Al-Azbakeya Police Department and informed the United Nations while the director of the Arab Organisation for Human Rights, Mohammed Jamil, registered five cases of rape in prisons.