AP: Riot Police Encircle Anti-Torture Protesters...

Riot police encircle anti-torture protesters and beat back those trying to break through

By PAKINAM AMER,
Associated Press Writer

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Riot police in front of Egypt's state security building on Sunday encircled a group of protesters demanding the trial of security officers accused of torture, beating demonstrators who tried to break through.
About 100 protesters, among them members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood, pro-reform activists and representatives of local human rights organizations, shouted: "Freedom, Freedom," and held banners calling for Interior Minister Habib el-Adly to resign.
They also carried posters of prisoners allegedly killed from being tortured.
Two protesters were injured during the protest and taken to a hospital, but their condition was not immediately known.
International and local human rights groups have accused Egyptian security authorities of illegally detaining and torturing people, saying it is systematic, a charge the government denies.
Susan Nadim from a victims of torture group said her center reported 32 cases of people dying as a result of torture in Egyptian prisons during the last month alone.
Human rights activist and protest organizer Aida Seif el-Dawla said all the cases of torture were reported to the prosecutor-general. "We even held sit-ins at the prosecutor-general's office when they dismissed cases," she said.
"The solution lies in the elimination of the emergency law and putting all those responsible for torture on trial," said one protester, Talaat Fahmy, referring to emergency laws imposed by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in 1981 after the assassination of former President Anwar Sadat. The laws give security forces broad powers, including great leeway in making arrests, and critics say they are used to stifle opposition.

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