In 2014, a young Egyptian man in his early 20s was to be wed in a few hours. Celebrating, he rented a scooter with his friends, driving around and cheering in joy. They were stopped at a checkpoint, and, upon finding out that the groom did not have a license for the scooter, the police officer moved to confiscate the scooter. When the young man begged to keep it, the officer and his informants whaled on him, beating him to death.

“Imagine going out to celebrate getting married, and returning a corpse,” said lawyer and head of United Group for Law Negad El Borai, who spoke about one of the 150 cases of torture he has handled over two years. Borai decided to take a stance, but what started as a draft law to end torture ended up in his own prosecution and with two judges being investigated in the first official session April 24.

“We first used to provide legal aid to torture victims, but we found out that these cases lead nowhere,” Borai said. More than 80 complaints against the prosecution’s deliberate sluggishness were handed to the general prosecutor. The lawyer explained that such cases need quick investigation before torture marks are gone. Yet again, no action was taken against the common practice.

Several victims spoke to Al-Monitor about the torture they have survived, be it in police stations or at the hands of national security. Upon arrest, the detainee receives a “reception party” — usually involving beating, slapping and kicking. Verbal abuse is an integral part of the forces’ language. Humiliation is accompanied by psychological torment through death threats, threats to the victim’s family or witnessing the torture of other victims. Urgent medical attention is a rarity, and hordes of detainees are placed in small, filthy rooms.