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.