Retribution for Torture Complaint?

A prominent Egyptian blogger is reporting that Ihabd Magdi Farouk, a 19-year-old Egyptian who is reporting that he was tortured by Egyptian police, was sentenced to three months in jail for mobile phone theft. Activists fear that the conviction was part of the police's efforts to force him to retract his allegation of torture. The police officers have been arrested and face a March 3 court date.

One thing that's interesting and different about this case is when police went looking for Farouk after he made the torture allegation, they detained family members in order to convince himself to turn himself in. This egregious behavior is not unheard of in Egypt, (see "Women Targeted by Association") but it violates all kinds of legal standards.

Here's a previous posting I made on this case.

Here's what the Egyptian blogger, 3arabawy, is writing about the update.