Press release
Cairo:14/5/2003

El Menya Criminal Court Issues Prison Sentences Against Policemen for the Torture Death of an Egyptian Citizen

 The criminal court of El Menya, Upper Egypt issued sentences of up to 10 years hard labor against six police personnel who were charged with torturing the citizen Ahmed Mohamed Radi Dardiri to death on June 23, 2001 in the public prison of El Menya.  Officers Abdel El Moneim Mohamed Talba and Shadi Madi Ali, and soldiers Waleed Shawqi Abdel Halim and Zehni Anwar Arafat were each sentenced to ten years.  Officer Amr Ahmed Mokhtar and the Doctor Officer Yasser Shehata Bekheit received prison sentences of one year and were also suspended from work.  In addition, the court decision obligates the Ministry of the Interior to pay to the victim’s family LE 2001 for civil compensation and LE 100 for legal fees. 

The victim, Ahmed Dardiri was under pre-trial detention in the public prison of El Menya on a matter contained in El Menya administrative report no. 1946.  He was tortured by the defendants in order to coerce a confession from him.  The first defendant carried him and threw him to the floor; then the second, third and fourth defendants held him, beating and kicking him on different parts of his body.  The first defendant subsequently beat him with a stick on his back and head, eventually resulting in Dardiri’s death.  The fifth defendant forged the formal report papers.  The sixth defendant intentionally disregarded injuries on the body of the victim, and falsified information in the medical report that was presented not only to the prison administration, but also the investigating body.   

The subsequent forensic report detailed the reasons for and time of death.  It affirmed that the torture inflicted by the defendants – as well as its psychological effects – ultimately resulted in the victim’s heart attack and subsequent death. 

In respects to this incident, EOHR believes that the court’s treatment of this incident is a positive step forward in the quest to bring such perpetrators to trial.  It hopes that the harshness of such sentences will deter others from committing such crimes in the future.  Also, it hopes that the Egyptian authorities will take all necessary, practical and legislative measures in order to effect a complete ban on torture in Egypt.