International rights group said on Monday that Egyptian security forces under President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi have arbitrarily arrested, forcibly disappeared and tortured children as young as 12 while prosecutors and judges turned a blind eye.
Human Rights Watch called on the U.S., France and other European Union countries to halt their support to Egyptian security forces until authorities take measurable steps to end the abuses and hold accountable those responsible.
“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, associate director at HRW.
A spokesman for Egypt’s Interior Ministry, which overseas the police, was not immediately available for comment.
In a 43-page report, the New York-based group said it documented abuses against 20 children who were between the age of 12 and 17 at the time of arrest. Fifteen of them said they were tortured in pretrial detention, usually during interrogation while held incommunicado, HRW said.
Seven children said security officers tortured them with electricity, including with stun guns, it added.
The group quoted a boy it said was arrested at age 16 as telling a relative that he worried he might “never marry or be able to have children” because of what security officials had done to him in detention.
HRW said it and Belady, a non-governmental organization aiding street children, corroborated statements from the children, their families and defense lawyers, using court documents, appeals to authorities, medical records, and videos.
Egypt’s government has, since the military’s 2013 overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohammed Morsi, launched a crackdown on dissent, jailing thousands of Islamists, along with secular, pro-democracy advocates. It has also imposed tight control of the media and rolled back freedoms won in a 2011 uprising.
