Egypt's top prosecutor orders investigation into 'torture' of Sinai militant
Three days after the kidnapping of seven Egyptian security personnel in
Sinai, Talaat Ibrahim Abdullah orders an investigation into charges
implicating the interior minister and head of Torah Prison in torture

El-Sayed Gamal El-Din , Sunday 19 May 2013
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/71804/Egypt/Politics-/Egypts-top-prosecutor-orders-investigation-into-to.aspx

Egypt's prosecutor-general Talaat Ibrahim Abdullah has ordered an immediate
investigation into the reported torture of a Bedouin Islamist militant who
suffered blindness during his detention for crimes committed in June 2011.

Abdullah on Sunday ordered the referral of a complaint issued by Salafist
party lawyer Mohamed Khattab on behalf of the brother of the detained
prisoner, Hani Abdullah Hemdan, to the Cairo Appeals Court to open the
investigation.

The complaint is against Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim and the head of
Torah Prison, Ashraf Khafaga. The complaint, No. 7639/2013, claims Khafaga
is responsible for the continuous beating of victim until he lost his sight
in April in Torah Prison.

In the complaint presented to Ibrahim, Khattab called for the necessary
legal procedures to be carried out and someone from the public prosecution
to be delegated to visit the prison and the victim and carry out medical
procedures.

The victim is currently undergoing a hunger strike in protest at his alleged
torture.

The complaint comes against the backdrop of the recent kidnapping of seven
Egyptian security personnel in the Sinai Peninsula Thursday, whose
whereabouts are still unknown. The seven included one member of the armed
forces, four port security officers, and two state security officers, the
state news agency MENA reported.

An unnamed security source told the Turkish Anadolu news agency that the
reported kidnappers are trying to force authorities to release affiliated
men in jail on criminal charges. The source added that the kidnappers
accused the Egyptian security forces of torturing one of the detained men.

Militants allegedly belonging to Tawhid wal-Jihad (Monotheism and Jihad)
were convicted of killing five security officers and one civilian during
attacks in June/July 2011 on an Al-Arish city police station and a North
Sinai branch of the Bank of Alexandria. Twenty-five individuals were charged
over attacks.