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Summary: Egyptian police and military officers have arrested and detained over 300 children during protests in Cairo over the past year, in some cases beating or torturing them, Human Rights Watch said today. Frequently, these children were illegally jailed with adult prisoners, tried in adult courts, and denied their rights to counsel and notification of their families.
Human Rights Watch found strong evidence that police and military officers beat many of the children and in some cases subjected them to treatment amounting to torture. Children told Human Rights Watch, their parents and lawyers that police and military officers kicked them, beat them with rifle butts, hit them with batons, and subjected them to electric shocks. “President Morsy’s government has promised an end to the practices we’ve seen over the past year, with police and military beating up and even torturing children,” said Priyanka Motaparthy, children’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. “If the government wants a real break with the past, it should make it a top priority to investigate the abuse of children at security officials’ hands and prosecute the officials responsible.” The arrests and treatment of detained children violated Egyptian and international law. Further Information