Friday, February 11, 2011

In Egypt, repression continues

Omar Suleiman was not idle. While the protest movement intensified, the vice-president, a real strong man of the country, multiplies the promises of political reform. On Tuesday, he mentioned a plan and timetable for a rapid and peaceful transfer of power. The former intelligence chief also assured that those who express "deserve the esteem of the nation" and that the head of state had "given instructions that are not harassed or denied their right to speak freely.

" To believe Human Rights Watch, however, repression continues in Egypt. "Tahrir Square, we met many families remain without news of their son or daughter," said Heba Morayef. Committed to Human Rights Watch researcher denounces the systematic violation of human rights on the part of the army and military police.

The NGOs called on Wednesday the Egyptian government to end arrests of journalists, activists and demonstrators. According to her, at least 119 people were held arbitrarily by the army and military police since Jan. 28. At least five were reportedly tortured. Beaten or brutalized, the prisoners have all been placed in isolation for one or more days without being able to communicate with the outside, without counsel and without the means to keep their families informed of their fate.

One, arrested Feb. 4, told Human Rights Watch that he had been "whipped with electric cables and subjected to electric shocks." "It was not a real interview, [the officer] did not ask many questions," he said. The Front for the Defence of Egyptian demonstrators, bringing together several organizations defending human rights, for its part, has identified 97 arbitrary arrest and detention since January 28.

The organization has accurate information about 69 of them. Only 29 have been released. Among the missing whose loved ones have still received no sign of life: the blogger Kareem Amer, a friend of his. The two men left the Tahrir Square on Sunday 23 hours. Since then, "their phones are off and they do not return home," reports the site dissidents, with whom Kareem Amer was working.

His absence was reported by Samer Karam, a Lebanese entrepreneur who has established a list of the missing Egyptians. The blogger had spent four years in prison for articles deemed anti-religious and insulting President Mubarak before being released in November 2010. "Despite everything, we have a sense of security, Tahrir Square.

People do not take precautions," observes Heba Morayef. Violence between supporters of President and protesters declined considerably in recent days in Cairo. In the rest of the country, however, tensions persist. Tuesday, at least three people died and hundreds more were injured after clashes between police and protesters in El Khargoune, an oasis in southern Egypt.

The angry mob responded by setting fire to seven government buildings, including two police, court and the local headquarters of the party of President Hosni Mubarak, National Democratic Party. Elise Barthet

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