Egyptian cartoonist Ashraf Omar was allegedly subjected to torture for long periods of time after being forcibly removed from his home without his whereabouts being revealed to his lawyers.
According to The New Arab, during an appearance, held on 4 August by video conference, Omar's defence team demanded that their client be legally considered a victim of torture because security forces allegedly abused him while he was blindfolded.
"According to official documents, Ashraf's arrest took place on 24 July, but he was actually taken from our house on the outskirts of Giza province almost 60 hours earlier. This period was not officially accounted for," his wife, Nada Mougheeth, told The New Arab.
Mougheeth also claims that "as soon as he was able to inform his lawyers that he had been severely beaten and threatened with electric shocks while he was blindfolded, the security forces made sure to beat him on different parts of his body in a way that left no marks of torture.
Omar's lawyers, who have been illegally denied access to the detainee to meet him in private, have asked the prosecution to order a forensic examination of his body to prove the allegations of torture.
The lawyers also demanded an official investigation of the recordings taken by surveillance cameras in and around the building to identify the exact moment when Omar was arrested.
His defence also called for an investigation into the confiscation of a total of 339,000 EGP (Egyptian pounds), about US$6,890, owned by the couple, of which only 80,000 EGP were officially accounted for.
Ashraf Omar, 38, is accused of the same charges that have been levelled against regime critics and journalists in recent decades:"being involved in a terrorist group, spreading false news and misusing social media".
Humour in trouble, a collection of cases
Cases of cartoonists who have had problems of some importance because of their cartoons or satirical illustrations. There are also some stories of other people who, without being cartoonists, have got into trouble for sharing them.
