By Mariam Abdel Ghani

CAIRO, June 5 (Aswat Masriya) – A security source has denied accusations of torture inside two Egyptian prisons amid conflicting reports that circulated on Thursday concerning grave violations that recently occurred inside the two prisons.

The April 6 Youth Movement has said that a number of detainees have been tortured over the past few days at Wadi al-Natroun and Fayoum prisons.

A security source denied these accusations, calling them rumours that tarnish the image of the police.

The youth movement issued a statement saying that security forces at the Natroun prison chained the detainees like dogs and forced them to chant for President-elect Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

The police also deported Karim Taha, a detained member of the movement, as well as three others to the Fayoum prison wearing nothing but their undergarments.

At the Fayoum prison, the four detainees were whipped and subjected to electric shocks, the statement added.

A security source at the Interior Ministry has told Aswat Masriya that Egypt’s prisons are open to all rights organisations at all times to check on prisoners and ensure that reports of torture inside the prisons are only rumours.

Yet the National Council for Human Rights’ deputy has told ASwat Masriya that “the Interior Ministry is hindering the council’s requests to make visits to prisons.”

Reports have circulated over the past few days that groups of prisoners at a number of prisons have begun a protest movement last Friday against detention and the torture they said they were subjected to.