 It was a tool widely employed by officials for various purposes of the state, including the obtaining of confessions from criminals, the collection of taxes, and the enforcement upon the population of the form of servitude known as corvée labor.In Egypt, the kurbash was already in use during the periods of Ottoman and Mamluk control.Its use did not diminish once these powers were removed, however, as their overthrow and the subsequent reign of Mehmet Ali (r. 1805–1848) was also characterized by widespread use of the whip.