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| Africa: North |
| Egypt Supposed to Parole Confessed Terrorist, But Lost His File |
| 2004-08-05 |
| From Khilafah, crediting The Guardian A British woman whose husband has been imprisoned in Egypt for nine years has spoken for the first time of her belief that he was tortured and blackmailed into making a false confession to a terrorist attack. Sharon Mahmoud and their four children, who live in London, have not seen Akram Mahmoud el-Sherif since he was seized by Egyptian security officers in a pre-dawn raid on the family's flat in Alexandria during December 1995. ... "My husband is supposed to have been released on parole by now but they have lost his file," said Mrs Mahmoud, who is 44 and originally from Cornwall. "He had gone back to Egypt with two of our children, Hannah and Islam, simply because he wanted to open a cafe. I was to join them at the end of the month. But the security police came in the early hours one morning armed with guns and broke into our flat in Alexandria. They took toys and videos but left our two children with neighbours. "Akram was taken to the state security detention centre in the centre of Cairo where he was deprived of food and sleep. He was electrocuted on his legs and private parts and they kept asking if he was a terrorist. They whipped him and urinated on him. In the end they got a confession by saying that if he didn't sign a blank sheet of paper Hannah and Islam, who were then aged eight and six, would have a road accident. He served six years in solitary confinement, without daylight and without exercise. He was often beaten by guards. ...." ..... The Egyptian authorities maintain Mr Mahmoud participated in a plot organised by the Jihad Group to destroy the old bazaar in central Cairo. .... |
| Posted by:Mike Sylwester |