Egypt police accused of torture

One of two men detained by Egyptian security officers at an anti-government demonstration has been beaten beyond recognition and sexually abused, his lawyer has said.

aljazeera.net: Mohammed el-Sharkawi, 24, and a member of Egypt's anti-government Kefaya movement, was dragged out of his vehicle as he tried to leave the demonstration on Thursday.

He was detained on charges which included insulting Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president,.

"I saw him before he was taken away, then in the evening. His appearance was completely different. His skin was covered in bruises and sores. Both his eyes were swollen red and blue," said his lawyer, Gamal Eid.

"His lips were bruised and split, and his chest was covered in bruises ... They had stripped his clothes off and sodomised him," Eid added, having spoken to Sharkawi on Thursday night.

He said his client was sodomised "using a rolled up piece of cardboard for nearly 15 minutes".

Eid said he saw his client while he and the other Kefaya detainee were being sentenced at the state security prosecution to 15 days' detention. Read more