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| Egypt 'fabricated terror group' | |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| A US-based human rights group has accused the Egyptian government of using torture and false confessions in a high-profile anti-terrorism case. | A US-based human rights group has accused the Egyptian government of using torture and false confessions in a high-profile anti-terrorism case. |
| Twenty-two alleged members of an unknown Islamist group, the Victorious Sect, were charged for planning attacks on tourism sites and gas pipelines. | Twenty-two alleged members of an unknown Islamist group, the Victorious Sect, were charged for planning attacks on tourism sites and gas pipelines. |
| US-based Human Rights Watch says its investigation found the security forces may have fabricated the group's name. | US-based Human Rights Watch says its investigation found the security forces may have fabricated the group's name. |
| It also reports claims the arrests were to justify renewing emergency laws. | It also reports claims the arrests were to justify renewing emergency laws. |
| Beyond coerced confessions, there appears to be no compelling evidence to support the government's dramatic claims Human Rights Watch | |
| Although the state prosecutor dismissed the charges against the suspects, 10 of them are still believed to be in detention. | Although the state prosecutor dismissed the charges against the suspects, 10 of them are still believed to be in detention. |
| The BBC's Ian Pannell in Cairo says this is just the latest in a run of accusations by human rights organisations against Egypt's police and state security. | |
| The Egyptian government has consistently denied that torture is used routinely and rejected what it sees as foreign interference in its own affairs. | |
| 'Pattern of abuse' | |
| The authorities' claims made headlines in April 2006 when they said they had smashed a previously unheard-of terrorist group plotting a series of attacks against soft targets including tourists and Coptic Christian clerics. | |
| "Beyond coerced confessions, there appears to be no compelling evidence to support the government's dramatic claims," HRW says. | |
| "Indeed, it appears that SSI (state security) may have fabricated the allegations made against at least some and possibly all of the them," its report says. | |
| A spokesperson for HRW said the case was not unusual, but was part of a pattern of detention and torture by the Egyptian security services in order to obtain false confessions. | |
| The case came to light shortly before Egypt renewed its enduring and controversial emergency laws, which give sweeping powers of detention to the security forces. | |
| "State security needs to show that it's working, that it's useful, and cases like these are useful politically, around the renewal of the emergency law," lawyer Muhammad Hashim is quoted saying in the HRW report. | |
| The group says the Egyptian authorities ignored requests for information about the case and there was no immediate response to publication of the report. | |
| Earlier this year, another human rights group released a highly critical report on Egypt's record on torture and illegal detention. | Earlier this year, another human rights group released a highly critical report on Egypt's record on torture and illegal detention. |