Return to the Children's Network Hub Homepage
Aser Mohamed: Teenager tortured to confess
On 12 January 2016 Aser Mohamed was taken from his home by armed police and National Security Agency Officers. He was just 14 years old. For 34 days nobody knew where he had been taken.
Aser reports that he was subjected to torture in detention to force him to ‘confess’ and he was held in pre-trial detention, despite this being banned in Egypt for children under 15.
Aser faced charges including being a member of the banned Muslim Brotherhood group and attacking a hotel, on the basis of the confessions he had made under torture. Comments by the prosecutor indicated that he knew Aser Mohamed had been subjected to electric shock torture in detention. The prosecutor took no action to investigate or hold those responsible for Aser’s torture to account.
The trial began in August 2016, and after repeated postponements Aser was convicted and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in October 2019. He has now spent around a quarter of his life in prison.
We are calling for Aser’s conviction to be quashed, his immediate release and an investigation into his enforced disappearance and torture allegations.