Allegations of torture, rape mount in Egypt

As Egypt's ex-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi officially submitted his bid to run for president on Monday, allegations continue to mount that the country’s security forces are using torture and rape as a weapon to quash dissent.
On Friday, a report by the British newspaper the Observer detailed gruesome allegations of rape against two male dissidents while in police custody.  The two men, while from different political backgrounds, have suffered comparable treatment.
The Observer report comes two weeks after the BBC published testimonies it gathered from young detainees alleging torture in police stations and prison cells.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian Observatory for Rights and Freedoms said it has documented more than 270 cases of torture and three rape cases against detained supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi in March.
"There were also 27 cases of sexual harassment against women detainees and three cases of male rape inside detention facilities," it said in a statement.
The rights body expressed concern over what it described as the maltreatment of detainees, particularly students, by the military-backed authorities.
The statement cited the testimony of the mother of a 19-year old Al-Azhar University student about his alleged rape by police officers.
"He was badly beaten, tortured with electric shocks in sensitive body parts and was subject to sexual violations by the officers," his mother said.
But a security source denied the allegations.
"We are seeking to apply law to all," the source said, denying claims of discriminating against certain detainees, particularly those of the Muslim Brotherhood.
"Whoever has a complaint should file it with the public prosecution," the source said.
The Egyptian Interior Ministry, which controls the country's police force, is probing the shooting dead of a man inside a local police station in Giza province on Sunday, a security source said.
Mohamed Khalil was gunned down Sunday by a police officer inside Imbaba police station after a scuffle between them.
The officer reportedly fired four shots at Khalil from a close range, witnesses said.
Egypt's military-backed authorities have launched a massive crackdown on supporters of Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood group since the democratically elected leader's ouster by the military last July.
In the almost 10 months since Morsi's ouster, thousands of the groups' members and sympathizers have been arrested.