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Teenager found dead bearing signs of torture two days after arrest in Egypt

The young man from Egypt's Coptic Christian minority was taken in by police for questioning on Saturday, his friends said
The young man from Egypt's Coptic Christian minority was taken in by police for questioning on Saturday, his friends said

Disturbing pictures of the body of a Egyptian teenager bearing the marks of extreme abuse have emerged, two days after he was arrested by police.

The remains of 19-year-old Tharwat Sameh were found on a street outside the town of al-Fayyum, south of Cairo, on Monday. He was only wearing underwear, and his entire body was covered in extensive bruising and contusions, burn marks and evidence of having been whipped.

The young man - from Egypt’s Coptic Christian minority - was taken in by police for questioning on Saturday, local media reported his friends as saying. Pictures of his body were quickly shared on social media under the hashtag #Tharwat_Sameh, along with calls for answers over the teen’s death.

رغمبشاعةصور#ثروت_سامح لكنلازمتنشروهاوتكتبواعنه، وتكتبواعنالمختفينقسرياومصيرهمالمجهول، مصرلازمتتفضحعالمياأكترمنكده#افضحوهم pic.twitter.com/VSl3Hf8RCq

— AbdElrahmanFares (@abdofares) July 24, 2017

Mr Sameh is allegedly the second individual to die after being arrested by the Egyptian authorities in a week: on 18 July the family of 43-year-old Gamal Aweida, of Cairo, was notified he had died after 15 hours in police custody.

It is not immediately clear why either man was arrested.

Amnesty International has already called for an investigation into Mr Aweida’s death. “The evidence strongly suggests that Gamal Aweida was tortured to death by Egyptian police,“ a statement from the rights group said.

The younger man’s death has triggered memories in Italy of the death of Cambridge student Giulio Regeni, whose body was discovered also bearing signs of torture 18 months ago.

The Egyptian authorities initially ruled he had died in a road traffic accident. The exact circumstances of his death are still unknown.

Local charities estimate more than 730 Egyptians disappeared in 2015 - 2016 while in the custody of the police or armed forces.

The government of President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi - an ex-military chief who assumed power after overthrowing democratically elected Muslim Brotherhood President Mohamed Morsi in 2013 - has repeatedly denied it carries out torture or extrajudicial killings of dissidents.