Cairo: Six Egyptian human rights organizations, along with lawyers, condemned the sexual harassment of political activist Omar Mohammad Ali in Badr Al-Jadeed prison, by security personnel, local media reported.
The Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression on Thursday submitted a report to the Attorney General about the incident under examination at the New Cairo Public Prosecution.
The Foundation stated that the incident dates back to October 2, 2022, while Omar was being searched by the police, following his arrival at Badr Prison and deported from Tora Mazraat Prison.
In the details, three security personnel forcefully removed his clothes while he was handcuffed and harassed him repeatedly, in the presence of a detective inspector and in a place where several surveillance cameras were installed.
The institution stressed that this incident represents a serious indication of the extent of violations faced by prisoners inside prisons in general, and Badr Al-Jadeed Prison in particular.
The six human rights organizations called on the Egyptian Public Prosecution to open a serious and transparent investigation into the incident, to preserve the prison’s surveillance camera recordings, and to bring those responsible to trial.
The organizations also called on the Amnesty Committee to include Omar Mohammad Ali in the amnesty lists.
As per media reports, Omar Mohammad Ali was arrested on June 2, 2015, accompanied by two of his friends, in front of a restaurant in the Maadi district of Cairo. He was forcibly disappeared for about two weeks, during which time he was tortured on the premises of the National Security Agency.
On June 16 of the same year, Omar was brought before the Military Prosecution, in Case No. 175 of 2015, Military Crimes, West Cairo. The prosecution charged him with ‘disclosing a defense secret,’ by providing one of the defendants with information about a security officer at the military factory in which he works. Despite the court’s assertion that the information was wrong, the military court sentenced him to 25 years in prison.
According to the six organizations, Omar suffers from poor conditions during his imprisonment. In addition to his torture, he was forced to confess to acts he did not commit, and he was refused a forensic examination to prove this torture, as well as his trial before a military court.
The six organizations are
- Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression
- Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies
- Nadim Center
- Egyptian Front for Human Rights
- Committee for Justice
- Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms.
