Children as young as 12 ‘tortured by Egyptian security forces’

EGYPTIAN security forces have tortured hundreds of children in recent years, including giving them electric shocks on their tongues and genitals and making them stand on beds of nails, human rights activities have said.

An investigation by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Belady, an Egyptian children’s charity, found children as young as 12 were regularly swept up in raids and abused while in detention.

One boy, named only as Hamza, was arrested in 2016 for taking part in a protest as a 14-year-old.

“During the first two days of his interrogation, officers used electric shocks on his genitals, head and tongue. On the third day he was suspended by his arms, which dislocated both his shoulders,” a relative said.

He spent his 15th birthday with nails placed under his heels, forcing him to stand painfully on the tips of his toes to keep his weight from coming down on the spikes, according to the report.

“Children are describing being waterboarded and electrocuted on their tongues and genitals, and yet Egypt’s security forces are facing no consequences,” said Bill Van Esveld, the HRW associate children’s rights director.

“Governments that want to end these horrors should end support to Egyptian security services and condition any future agreements on there being real reforms.”

Egypt’s London embassy did not respond to requests for comment.

One 12-year-old boy, Abdullah, was taken from his home in North Sinai.

Abdullah said he was beaten, given electric shocks, and waterboarded because his brother had been a member of a jihadist group. His father was tortured in front of his young son.

He was moved between prisons and police stations in 2018 before disappearing in January 2019. Relatives fear that he may have been killed by the authorities.

The report documents abuses against 20 children aged 12-17 when they were arrested. Seven were tortured using electricity and 15 said they faced some sort of physical abuse.

“Egyptian authorities act as though they are above all laws when it comes to children in detention,” said Aya Hijazi, the co-director of Belady.