CAIRO, May 31 (UPI) -- The U.S. Organization for Monitoring Human Rights urged Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to probe the alleged torture and sexual abuse of two political activists.
The New York-based organization said in a statement released in Cairo Wednesday a judicial investigation should be conducted in the reported beating and sexual abuse of activists Mohammed Sharkawi and Karim Saher who are members of the Egyptian Movement for Change, Kifaya (enough).
The two were arrested last week for taking part in a demonstration in support of the independence of the judiciary from the executive authorities.
The American organization's president Joe Stark said in the statement "the Egyptian government should investigate the abuses and punish those responsible."
"President Mubarak should put an end to these repeated aggressions by the state security apparatuses," he said.
The public prosecution at the state security court ordered last Friday the arrest of Sharkawi and Shaer for 15 days to interrogate them on charges of demonstrating and humiliating the president of the republic.
In the meantime, 13 detained political activists started a hunger strike Tuesday in protest of the prison authority's reluctance to refer Sharkawi to specialized medics for treatment for broken ribs.
Egyptian police previously arrested Sharkawi on April 24 and Shaer on May 7 after they participated in demonstrations in support of an independent judiciary. They were both released on May 22.
