US reported 'routine' police brutality in Egypt, WikiLeaks cables show

[sabra]

Source: Guardian UK

Torture widely used against criminals, Islamist detainees, opposition activists and bloggers, embassy cables suggest

Police brutality in Egypt is "routine and pervasive" and the use of torture so widespread that the Egyptian government has stopped denying it exists, according to leaked cables released today by WikiLeaks.

The batch of US embassy cables paint a despairing portrait of a police force and security service in Egypt wholly out of control. They suggest torture is routinely used against ordinary criminals, Islamist detainees, opposition activists and bloggers.

"The police use brutal methods mostly against common criminals to extract confessions, but also against demonstrators, certain political prisoners and unfortunate bystanders. One human rights lawyer told us there is evidence of torture in Egypt dating back to the time of the pharoahs. NGO contacts estimate there are literally hundreds of torture incidents every day in Cairo police stations alone," one cable said.

Under Hosni Mubarak's presidency there had been "no serious effort to transform the police from an instrument of regime power into a public service institution", it said. The police's ubiquitous use of force had pervaded Egyptian culture to such an extent that one popular TV soap opera recently featured a police detective hero who beat up suspects to collect evidence.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/28/egypt-police-brutality-torture-wikileaks

[valerief]

1. Just like the U.S.!

[Enrique]

2. there's irony in this sentence

The police's ubiquitous use of force had pervaded Egyptian culture to such an extent that one popular TV soap opera recently featured a police detective hero who beat up suspects to collect evidence.

[notesdev]

4. That's not irony

Irony is us claiming to be a free country while jailing many more people per capita than the worst police state dictatorship that ever existed.

[DCKit]

5. 24? nt

[bread_and_roses]

3. And our gov't supports them. (n/t)

[Uncle Joe]

6. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, sabra.

[Hissyspit]

7. GD thread with other WikiLeaks Egypt cables here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x290575

[Lorien]

8. And some DUers think that we shouldn't even voice an opinion about this

sorry, but as human beings human rights are something that should concern us ALL.

[keepCAblue]

9. And god/dess forbid if one is gay or perceived to be gay in Egypt... n/t