Secret police

Secret police (or political police) are police, intelligence or security agencies that engage in covert operations against a government's political, ideological or social opponents and dissidents. Secret police organizations are characteristic of authoritarian and totalitarian regimes. They protect the political power of a dictator or regime and often operate outside the law to repress dissidents and weaken political opposition, frequently using violence. They may enjoy legal sanction to hold and charge suspects without ever identifying their organization.

Egypt is home to Africa and the Middle East's first internal security service: The State Security Investigations Service. Initially it was formed during the British occupation of Egypt as the Intelligence wing of the regular police. After the 1952 coup, the State Security apparatus was reformed and reorganized to suit the security concerns of the new socialist regime of Gamal Abdel Nasser. The SSIS was made a separate branch of the Ministry of Interior and separated from the regular police command. During the Nasser era, It was intensively trained by the Soviet KGB on coercive interrogation techniques, mass surveillance, public intimidation and political suppression. The SSIS was responsible for suppressing opposition groups to Nasser and his successors (Sadat and Mubarak). Torture was a systematic practice by that repressive apparatus. During the War on Terror, The SSIS used to receive suspected terrorists that were sent to Egypt from the United States and used to interrogate them using torture. After the 2011 revolution, demonstrators demanded that the service be dissolved and several buildings (including the headquarters in Nasr City) were stormed by protesters that gathered evidence of torture tools, secret cells and documents showing surveillance on citizens. On March 15 2011, Egypt's Minister of Interior announced the dissolution of the State Security and declared the new National Security Agency would replace it and be responsible for its internal security and counter-terrorist duties.

From 1974 to 1987, Ethiopia was ruled by a communist military junta known as the Derg (in 1987 the country formally reformed into a presidential republic, but the same people remained in power until May 1991). The Derg built a police state with a brutal military government. The brutality of its regime was particularly evident in the 1976-1978, during military campaign, called Red Terror, against perceived opponents. To exercise total control over the country, the Derg needed a secret police. And it formed one in August 1978: it became known as the Central Revolutionary Investigation Department (CRID). CRID was responsible for suppressing dissent and identifying targets for state repression in Ethiopia. Department also has been monitoring opposition in government-controlled areas and regime dissidents. CRID is considered to be the most advanced institution of violence in Derg's Ethiopia.

In Uganda, the State Research Bureau (SRB) was a secret police organisation for President Idi Amin. The Bureau tortured many Ugandans, operating on behalf of a regime responsible for more than five hundred thousand violent deaths. The SRB attempted to infiltrate every area of Ugandan life.

In Zimbabwe, the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) was the secret police of President Robert Mugabe who is responsible for detaining, torturing, mass beating, raping and starving thousands of civilians on the orders of Mugabe.

In East Asia, the Embroidered Uniform Guard (Chinese: 錦衣衞; pinyin: Jǐnyīwèi) of the Ming dynasty was founded in the 1360s by the Hongwu Emperor and served as the dynasty's secret police until the collapse of Ming rule in 1644. Originally, their main functions were to serve as the emperor's bodyguard and to spy on his subjects and report any plots of rebellion or regicide directly to the emperor. Over time, the organization took on law enforcement and judicial functions and grew to be immensely powerful, with the power to overrule ordinary judicial rulings and to investigate, interrogate, and punish anyone, including members of the imperial family. In 1420, a second secret police organization run by eunuchs, known as the Eastern Depot (東廠; Dōng Chǎng), was formed to suppress suspected political opposition to the usurpation of the throne by the Yongle Emperor. Combined, these two organizations made the Ming dynasty one of the world's first police states.

The Ministry of State Security (国家安全部; Guójiā Ānquán Bù) in modern China controls a network of provincial and local State Security Bureaus, integrated with local Public Security Bureaus which make up part of the policing system of China. The MSS has its own branch of the People's Police, known as the State Security Police, with officers which have the dual tasks of law enforcement and repressing political dissent. State security bureaus and public security bureaus are functionally co-located within the same buildings as each other. The MSS and the Ministry of Public Security control the overall national police network of China and the two agencies share resources and closely coordinate with each other.^{[better source needed]}

In British Hong Kong, the Special Branch was established in 1934 originally as an anti-communist squad under MI5 with assistance from MI6. The branch later joined the Crime Department of the Royal Hong Kong Police Force in 1946 and focused on preventing pro-KMT rightists and pro-CCP leftists from infiltrating the colony.