Among those who have been tortured are prisoners transferred to Egypt under the CIA’s controversial "extraordinary rendition" program in the war on terror, Amnesty International said in a report, citing accounts from five detainees. It called on Egypt to stop interrogating suspects sent to the country under the program.

The London-based group said 18,000 people were in Egyptian jails without trial, including some who have been held for more than a decade. The torture has included electric shocks, suspension by the wrists or ankles and psychological pressure, such as rape threats against prisoners or their female relatives, the report said.

The group was particularly concerned about an amendment that suspended civil rights in terror investigations and enabled the state to prosecute civilians in military courts, which are known for taking shortcuts with due process.

Amnesty cited the account of Osama Hassan Mustafa Nasr, an Egyptian cleric who says he was kidnapped in Italy and transferred to Egypt for interrogation.

He said once in Egypt, he was sodomized, stripped naked, and beaten with electric cables and water hoses, and given electric shocks while being pinned to a wet mattress.

The Bush administration has insisted it receives guarantees from countries receiving terror suspects that prisoners will not be tortured.