Egyptian officials have found torture gear including a whip, clubs and a barbed wire-studded stick at a police station in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, a security source said on Tuesday.
An investigating team found that 40 people had been kept in custody ”illegally” at the Montaza police station after receiving complaints from the families of those detained, the source said.
The prosecutor promptly ordered the release of the detainees, confiscated the torture equipment and launched an inquiry into the matter, calling the police officers in charge in for questioning, the source said.
In a statement, nine Egyptian rights organisations condemned the detentions and called on authorities to announce the results of the probe at Montaza and launch inquiries into all violations in other Egyptian police stations.
In January, the London-based rights watchdog Amnesty International called on the Egyptian government to investigate all torture claims after a series of videos of alleged torture in police stations were leaked on the Internet.
”Our organisation urges the Egyptian authorities to secure guarantees so that detainees are not subject to torture or mistreatment, to seriously investigate all allegations of torture and mistreatment, to protect victims against intimidation or reprisal,” the group said. — AFP
