For more than twenty years, a brave team of psychiatrists located in Cairo have been treating--and documenting--Egypt's torture victims. Such documentation has never been more important because Egypt's government denies using torture to coerce political opponents and activists. According to a report issued by Human Rights Watch, torture continues to be used to coerce confessions from detainees in Egypt.
Now, authorities are trying to shut down the El Nadeem Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence, and some people rightly fear it's because the clinic is about the only place in Egypt that can document torture practices. Police have raided the clinic on multiple occasions and attempted to close it. Please join me in asking Egypt's president Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to cease attempts to close the Nadeem Center.
Dear Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi:
There is substantial evidence that torture is a state sanctioned practice in Egypt. And it appears that your government and security forces are using torture against your own people, often to extract confessions. Please know that confessions extracted this way are meaningless. Many people will say anything to avoid pain.
Meanwhile, stout denials that torture is being committed do nothing to protect your country's reputation. And now it seems that your government is trying to close down a clinic that has a history of documentaing these cases. You need to quit raiding the El Nadeem Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence. Instead, work with the El Nadeem center to investigate and stop torture from occurring.
