Cairo - Human Rights Watch urged Egyptian authorities Saturday to prosecute a group of police officers whose alleged sexual assault of a Cairo minibus driver was recorded in a cellphone video and has cropped up on the Internet.

In a statement, the United States-based human rights group said Imad al-Kabir, from Bulaq al-Dakrur in the Giza district of the Egyptian capital, was detained for 36 hours last January after intervening in a dispute between police and a cousin.

Whilst inside the Bulaq police station, it said, Kabir was bound by his arms and legs, "severely whipped", then "raped... with a stick while one (police officer) videotaped the episode with a mobile phone".

Kabir was released without charge, but Human Rights Watch quoted him as saying that in the weeks and months that followed, the video was circulated amongst other minibus drivers, eventually making its way onto the Internet in November.

"The government should send the message that it won't tolerate torture by police or any other officials," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.

"Prosecuting those responsible for the crimes shown in this video would be a good first step. But it shouldn't be the last - the Egyptian government must change the culture that's made torture routine in Egyptian jails." - AFP