World Bulletin / News Desk

Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim on Wednesday ordered an investigation into the alleged torture of a detainee inside an Upper Egyptian police station.

Activists have recently circulated a video online showing a blindfolded, half-naked man being tortured by two men in plainclothes in the Bandar Minya Police Station.

The two men can be seen insulting and beating the victim, identified as Aslam Fathi, who works as a correspondent for the MBC Misr satellite channel.

Later, the video shows the victim moaning in pain with severe bruises on his back.

"I plan to sue those who tortured me," Fathi told Anadolu Agency on Wednesday.

According to Fathi, his ordeal began on Thursday when he attempted to report on a building collapse in Egypt's southern Minya province.

As he tried to persuade a policeman to let him cover the collapse, he was assaulted by a police officer and soldiers who took him to the police station.

Fathi says he was then tied up by policemen and assaulted for several hours inside the police station before being placed in solitary confinement for a two-hour period.

The Cairo-based Arab Network for Human Rights Information blamed Egypt's Interior Ministry – and the ministry's failure to punish policemen implicated in the torture and killing of protesters – for the apparent "return of police thuggery."

The rights watchdog called for the dismissal of the interior minister, the "restructuring" of the ministry, and the prosecution of the perpetrators of police abuse.

Ashraf Abbas, a founder of Egypt's "Journalists against Torture" group, vowed to take what he called "systematic violations" against journalists to the office of Egypt's prosecutor-general.

Group co-founder Nadia Abul-Einein, for her part, said a campaign would soon be launched with a view to making legislative changes aimed at ensuring media freedom and providing protection for journalists.