Posts Tagged ‘شريف القماطي’

Piggipedia: Sherif el-Qamati شريف القماطي

Sherif el-Qamati is a State Security Police officer who worked at the Bureau of Counter-Communism and Human Rights Organizations, which was in charge of monitoring, arresting and torturing leftists and rights activists.

I first spotted Qamati as early as 2003, when he began showing up for our pro-Palestine and anti-Iraq war protests in downtown Cairo, in the company of the infamous torturer SS Lt. Colonel Waleed el-Dessouqi, both seen below in the picture I took in a pro-intifada protest, 28 September 2003…

Qamati was one the SS officers involved in the crackdown and trial of Revolutionary Socialist activists in 2003-4. He ritualistically attended our protests in downtown Cairo over the following years, monitoring activists with his cold dead eyes which always reminded me of Putin somehow.

During the Cairo Spring, when thousands of Egyptians took to the streets of Cairo in solidarity with reformist judges, Qamati was present in the protests and took part in the crackdown. On 25 May 2006, Qamati, with the help of the police force of Qasr el-Nil Station, kidnapped and sodomized left wing blogger Mohamed el-Sharqawi in custody. He was never held accountable despite repeated calls by local and internaitonal rights watchdogs.

Qamati continued to show up for our protests in 2007, but could hardly be noticed in the following years. Other than demonstrations, I also saw him in January 2007 working out in the FDA Gym at Zamalek’s Yamama Center. As of 2008, Qamati held the rank of Major, according to one of his relatives’ obituary published in Al-Ahram.

So where is this rapist today? Whatever happened to him? Is he part of the National Security Bureau, has he been recycled in some other police department, forced to retire, or what? Qamati must face justice and pay for his crimes.

Portrait of a Rapist الجلاد

Officer Sherif el-Qamaty, from State Security’s CounterCommunism Bureau… He tortured and raped leftist blogger Mohamed el-Sharqawi on 25 May 2006, in Qasr el-Nil Police Station…

Qasr el-Nil Police Station: A History of Torture

Located in an old shabby villa in downtown Cairo’s most affluent area, Garden City, lies one of the infamous torture centers run by Mubarak’s pigs…

Qasr el-Nil Police Station have gained notoriety among Egyptian activists because of the involvement of its officers in the crackdowns on Kefaya’s demonstrations in Tahrir Sq, Talaat Harb Sq and Abdel Khaleq Tharwat St. The place has become synonymous with Major Samawa’l Abu Sehla, who helped kidnap leftist blogger Mohamed el-Sharqawi, who was later tortured and sodomized by Abu Sehla and State Security officer Sherif el-Qamati..

But the old building has also a long history of torture and death of detainees in custody, the Torture in Egypt Blog reminds us…

[Above: Police Major Samawa'l Abu Sehla, identified by Sharqawi to be his kidnapper, together with Sherif el-Qamati of State Security's so-called Counter-Communism Bureau.]

[Above: SS Officer Sherif el-Qamati, who sexually abused Sharqawi]

Cairo Anti-War Conference: Abu Omar makes an appearance; Sharqawi identifies his torturers

The second day at Cairo’s 5th Anti-War Conference and 3rd Cairo Social Forum brought earthshaking surprises at it’s Anti-Torture Forum, held on Friday afternoon.

[Above: Abu Omar in the Press Syndicate, Photo by Hossam el-Hamalawy]

Abu Omar–the Alexandrian cleric kidnapped 2003 by the CIA in Milan and rendered to Egypt where he was brutally tortured–showed up today at the Press Syndicate, defying the travel ban imposed on him by State Security as a condition for his release. Abu Omar took part in the Anti-Torture Forum, chaired by leftist activist Dr. Aida Seif el-Dawla, where he presented his testimony about his torture odyssey from Milan to Cairo, via Germany. “I was severely tortured by the Mukhabarrat and State Security,” Abu Omar said. “I was electrocuted for months, till my whole body turned black.”

[Above:Abu Omar speaking about his ordeal, at the Anti-Torture Forum, organized by Cairo's 3rd Social Forum at the Press Syndicate. Photo by Hossam el-Hamalawy]

Abu Omar expressed fears of re-arrest by the Egyptian police for speaking to the media, but insisted he will keep on talking. “If I stay silent, these practices (by the Egyptian security services) will continue.” The cleric also pleaded to be allowed to leave Egypt, back to Italy.

Another political bomb was thrown by blogger Mohamed el-Sharqawi, who gave his testimony about the torture and sexual abuse he faced in Qasr el-Nil Police Station on 25 May 2006. For the first time, Sharqawi named his torturers.

[Above L-R: MB blogger Abdel Moneim Mahmoud, leftist blogger Mohamed el-Sharqawi, and rights activist Dr. Aida Seif el-Dawla, during the anti-torture forum. Photo by Hossam el-Hamalawy]

“Police Major Samaw’al Mohamed Abu Sehla was the first to kidnap me from the car I was in on that day,” Sharqawi told the audience.

And, “the State Security officer who supervised my torture inside Qasr el-Nil Police Station is named Sherif.”

Sharqawi also expressed his frustration with the refusal of the authorities to open an investigation into his abuse, despite the repeated requests by his lawyers, accusing State Security of breaking into his house and stealing his laptop…