Egyptian political activists accuse police of torture and sexual assault

Police tortured two protesters _ sexually assaulting one of them _ following a peaceful demonstration held in support of pro-reform judges, a lawyer and pro-reform group said Friday.

 Activist Mohammed el-Sharkawi, 24, was sodomized "using a rolled up piece of cardboard for nearly 15 minutes," his lawyer Gamal Eid told The Associated Press.

 The assault occurred Thursday night after el-Sharkawi was taken to a Cairo police station. He told his lawyer about the incident when Eid was permitted to attend an interrogation session later that night.

 Interior Ministry officials were not available for comment.

 An Associated Press reporter on Thursday saw more than 15 men in plainclothes grab el-Sharkawi and punch and kick him after he had participated in a peaceful protest outside of the Journalists' Syndicate in downtown Cairo.

 Demonstrators were expressing solidarity with a group of judges calling for full independence of the judiciary. The protest also marked the one-year anniversary of a protest against a referendum on a controversial constitutional amendment when police sexually harassed and brutalized female activists and journalists.

 "Almost all of el-Sharkawi's body is bruised, swollen, or cut," Eid said. "I haven't seen such brutality and sadism since 1995," he added, referring to a period when the state mounted a stringent crackdown on Islamic militants.

 El-Sharkawi is a member of Youth for Change, affiliated with the Kifaya, or Enough, political opposition movement.

 A Kifaya statement on its Web site said that police tortured another protester, Kareem el-Sha'er.

 "He was kidnapped from his car and then taken to the same police station where he was tortured," Eid said explaining that el-Sha'er was severely beaten.

 Both el-Sharkawi and el-Sha'er were re-detained three days after they had been released from one month's incarceration following an earlier peaceful demonstration.

 On Friday, state prosecution ordered el-Sharkawi and el-Sha'er detained for 15 days, accusing them of insulting President Hosni Mubarak, incitement and assembling illegally.

 Throughout Thursday's protest, el-Sharkawi was silent as he held sign that said, "I want my rights back."

 Plainclothes police also smashed the windows of a car carrying two female journalists and one female political activist and then dragged them form the vehicle following the same demonstration. One of the female journalists is six months pregnant.

 Kifaya says 60 of its activists arrested in April are still being held.

Associated Press