The Arabist

The Arabist

By Issandr El Amrani and friends.

DENIED: Egypt Bloggers Plan Parallel Torture Film Festival

Egypt: Bloggers Plan Parallel Film Festival on Police Torture:
Egyptian bloggers have announced that, while the Cairo film festival is taking place from 27 November to 7 December, they will hold a parallel festival in which a "Golden Whip" will be awarded to the best video showing "controversial acts of torture allegedly committed by the security authorities."

Two policemen received three-month jail sentences on 5 November for mistreating a detainee. A video of the incident, filmed with a mobile phone, caused an outcry among human rights activists and enabled identification of the two police officers.
Also, Hossam points out that YouTube has pulled down the Egyptian police torture page.

Update: Blogger Wael Abbas, who released some of the first torture videos, is denying that any such festival is taking place - see comments.