Egypt citizen deported from Sudan at risk of torture

Egyptian citizen Madian Hasanein is being held at the Interior Ministry’s headquarters in Zagazig city, Sharqia governorate, after Sudanese authorities handed him over to Egypt, according to an investigation carried out by the rights group We Record.

Fifty-nine-year-old Hasanein was deported while Sudan undergoes a democratic process, supposedly striving for justice, freedom and dignity.

In June crowds took to the streets in Sudan to demonstrate against military rule and forced the ouster of long-time dictator Omar Al-Bashir. Following months of negotiations between the military and the opposition democracy movement, an 11-member sovereign council was formed to rule the country during its transition to civilian rule.

“We Record reiterates its firm rejection of the current Sudanese authorities’ behaviour of forcibly expelling the Egyptian opponent Madian Hasanein to his country, exposing him to facing torture and various kinds of degrading treatment,” the group said in a statement.

Hasanein was arrested under the rule of Al-Bashir in November 2018 at the request of the Egyptian regime and forcibly disappeared for several months. He has a history of opposing the Egyptian government and was jailed twice under now toppled dictator Hosni Mubarak.

Hasanein has been listed among defendants in the Ansar Al-Sharia case, despite the fact that he was not in Egypt at the time.

READ: Sudan parties meet in Egypt to develop political process

When the Sudanese revolution broke out it was reported that Hasanein would not be forcibly deported, but instead allowed to leave Sudan to any country of his choice. Despite reassurances from Sudanese intelligence that he would not be handed over, he was.

“The We Record team found out that the Sudanese authorities reneged on the values ​​of the Sudanese revolution and its pledge not to forcibly extradite Egyptian opposition figures to their country, especially that international legislation prohibits forcibly expelling or handing over persons to a country where they would be at risk of torture,” the group said.

Article 3 of the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment of Punishment states that no one shall be extradited to another state where there is grounds for believing he would be in danger or subject to torture.

Egypt has a long history of police brutality – in September, 45-year-old Karim Al-Khawaja was beaten to death in custody.

Last year Human Rights Watch detailed torture carried out by National Security officers at the Interior Ministry including pulling out the fingernails of one detainee and penetrating another’s arm with a metal nail wrapped in an electrified wire to increase the pain of electric shocks.

READ: Egypt arrests a mother who enquired after her detained son

Last year Carnegie Endowment for International Peace released a report to say the police systematically torture detainees with impunity. In 2016 alone the Egyptian Coordination for Rights and Freedoms documented 830 cases of torture including inside police stations and Interior Ministry state security buildings.

This is especially true in the current period of time. Egypt is carrying out a renewed crackdown on journalists, opposition politicians, former detainees and activists as it moves to thwart further protests which erupted in the country on 20 September. Over 12 days Egyptian authorities arrested more than 2,300 people, at least 111 of them children.

The prominent activists Israa Abdelfattah and Alaa Abdul Fattah, both detained under this latest sweep, have given accounts about how they were tortured and beaten in prison.