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Egyptian police have tortured a human rights defender who campaigns for LGBT+ people with electric shocks.
Campaigners are demanding Egypt immediately release Patrick George. The authorities have been holding him since 7 February.
George is a human rights defender and researcher at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR). He advocates for women’s rights, and vulnerable groups in Egypt, including the LGBT+ community and the Christian minority.
In addition, George has also worked on the rights of detainees. And he campaigns against Egypt violating civil and political rights.
How Patrick George went missing
Campaigners for his release say the human rights defender arrived in Egypt on 7 February this year. It was his first visit since August 2019 when he started studying at Bologna University in Italy.
But the authorities stopped George at Cairo airport upon his arrival at 4.30am. The National Security Agency, also called Homeland Security, then took him into custody. Friends didn’t know where he was for 24 hours.
They later learned agents had transferred him from the airport to a national security facility in Cairo, Egypt’s capital.
They interrogated George for several hours without his lawyer. And they kept him blindfolded and in handcuffs while questioning him. During the interrogation, supporters claim agents beat George on his stomach and back. And they tortured him with electric shocks to his upper body.
The next day, agents presented him before the public prosecutor of Mansoura, a city in the Nile delta in Egypt’s north. At that point, the prosecutor ordered George to stay in custody for another 15 years, while investigations continue.
Since then, his supporters say his family hasn’t been able to visit. And he has had very limited access to lawyers.
The security agency has charged him with ‘disseminating false news’, ‘inciting to protest’ and ‘incitement to violence and terrorist crimes’.
His family said: ‘We are not yet able to understand the charges against Patrick. Our son has never been a source of threat or danger to any person. He was a constant source of support and help for many people.’
#FreePatrick
Since his arrest, supporters have launched a #FreePatrick campaign. They have gathered over 69,000 signatures on a petition which you can sign here. And they’ve held vigils calling for his release.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International has demanded his release and an investigation into his torture.
George’s supporters praised him for continuing to demand human rights, despite ‘the arrival of Al-Sisi’s brutal regime that silenced countless voices’.
The added: ‘With unwavering determination and persistence, Patrick has been bravely fighting for the people’s political freedom of expression in a nation ruled by a military dictatorship, ruthless in suppressing any opposition.’
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