Torture did not break him, so they detained him again

Abdel Moneim Mahmoud:
Torture did not break him, so they detained him again

After two days of persecution and breaking into the house of blogger and El Hewar channel correspondent, Abdel Moneim Mahmoud, state security police detained him off a plane in Cairo airport, from where he is to begin a new journey of interrogations and detentions and probably torture, which he had suffered before by the hands of the Egyptian Ministry of Interior.

El Nadim center cannot explain the detention of Abdel Moneim Mahmoud except by the role he played in exposing crimes committed by the Ministry of Interior through his blog, where he called for the release of detainees. The Egyptian Ministry of Interior's bet was that months of detention and torture would silence Abdel Moneim and break his spirit. Its bet was that Abdel Moneim will stop testifying to the suffering he and his colleagues endured in the darkness of the prison cells. However, Abdel Moneim did not break. On the contrary, after his "experience" with the Egyptian Ministry of Interior" he became a live testimony to the deteriorating conditions in the country.

The detention of Abdel Moneim Mahmoud follows two incidents, which we believe are direct causes therefore. Abdel Moneim presented his testimony in the session of Activists against Torture organized within the 3 rd Cairo Social forum. He also participated in the press organized by Amnesty International on the occasion of their launching of their report titled: "Egypt: Systematic abuses in the name of security", which documents torture practices in Egyptian police stations as well as state security centers as well as some cases where the Egyptian Ministry of Interior carried out torture on behalf of other governments.

The participation of Abdel Moneim and others in those activities sent a clear message to the Ministry of Interior that they were not broken, and the torture, which eroded their bodies, did not erode their dignity, sense of humanity and pride, all of which motivated Abdel Moneim to expose the crimes committed behind bars to public opinion.

Abdel Moneim was exercising his duty as a citizen by reporting a crime, to which he was not only witness, but of which he was one of the victims. By reporting on torture he as following the law, while his tormentors were breaking it.

El Nadim Center, while expressing its solidarity with Abdel Moneim Mahmoud and all those detained by the emergency laws and the tyranny of the Ministry of interior, calls for his immediate release and holds the Egyptian Ministry of Interior and the Egyptian regime as a whole responsible for the safety and life of Abdel Moneim, expressing its concern that he could be subject to a new round of torture by state security personnel.

El Nadim Center also salutes all the free voices who were not silenced by the crime of torture and who refused to live as victims, who survived police stations and detention centers and, despite their physical injuries, retained their dignity and pride and testified to the systematic crimes committed under the protection of the law and decision makers in this country.

EL Nadim center also calls upon all human rights organizations in Egypt, Arab countries and worldwide to send letters of protest t the respective Egyptian authorities demanding the release of Abdel Moneim and other detainees and those referred to military courts, while holding the respective authorities responsible for the safety and life of Abdel Moneim Mahmoud and demanding that they abide by the intentional agreements and commitments, which the Egyptian government has endorsed.

We call upon you to send letters of protest to:

Mohamed Hosni Mubarak, President of the Egyptian Republic of Egypt; Fax: 00 202 7958016, 7953192
Egyptian Minister of Justice; Fax: 00 202 7958103
Egyptian Minister of Interior; Fax: 00 202 7945529
Egyptian Public Prosecutor; Fax: 00 202 5774716

Our friends outside Egypt can also send their letters of protest to the Egyptian embassies in their respective countries.

El Nadim Center