A young man of 25 on a motorcycle was abused and beaten at a police checkpoint despite holding required documents and licences
The Egyptian police often treats average people inhumanly, rather than as citizens they’re sworn to protect.
In the 2011 January Revolution, the Egyptians protested against police abuse. Instead of changing this, indeed, the brutality and abuse have only gotten worse.
Several human rights organizations say torture is institutionalized in the Egyptian authorities’ politics. Such incidents are not single incidents of some rogue police officers. These acts are happening across police stations all over Egypt, not just in major cities.
The story presented here today is only an example of the way the Egyptian police treat citizens, both in the street and at police stations.
In a video aired by Rassd News Network and on YouTube, the young man was speaking to the public, while crying: “I’m sorry guys. I am a young man of 25, an ordinary young man like any other young man. I was driving my motorcycle and there was a police checkpoint. I was stopped there and asked about my licenses, so I gave them to the officer. When the officer asked me about the motorcycle plate, I told him that it was under the seat. Then he said, give me the key, but I asked him why? He said: to take (seize) the motorcycle. I asked him why but he did not answer me,” he said.
“After an argument, he took the motorcycle, after forcibly taking the key from my hand. He asked me to wait on the side of the road, so I did. I waited for 20 minutes, then I went to him and told him: I want to leave, give me the key so I can take the motorcycle and go, because I did not commit any violations and I hold my intact documents and I did not commit any mistake or any traffic violation. He had lined up my motorcycle and had a lot of motorcycles leaning on it.”
“I went to another officer from among the pashas whom I appreciate and “put their shoes on my head” because they are the elite of Egyptian people. I said to him: O Pasha, I hope you don’t put all the motorcycles on my motorcycle for fear they would harm it, so he said: Get away from me, you, little boy. So I said to him: I ask your permission to lift it (the motorcycle) from under other motorcycles, so that they would not break its outer fiber. But he asked me to get away in the same tone as before.”
“When I was about to speak again, he said to me: Didn’t I tell you to walk away from here? It seems that you want to be imprisoned, son of … (indecent words), I said to him: Who is son of …? He said to me: You are son of….and son of…., and your mother is…., and your father is…. (All of which were obscene insults directed at me, my mother, and my father). Then he slapped me on the face and hurt my teeth, and then hit me hard with his fist, and dragged me to the ground in the street (the young man was then crying) just because I told him why you insult my mother?”
The young man continued: “He then pushed me into a police vehicle and left me there like a dog. When we arrived at the police station, he removed me from the police car while holding the back of my nape (back neck), and I do not understand until now what I did. I did not do anything. Then I was getting into his office, when he told me to leave my shoes outside, as if I were entering a place of worship! When I entered his office, he started insulting me again: You are a poorly mannered boy, and you are a son…, …. I told him: I am a human being, and you should not insult me or assault me.”
“On his desk there were many weapons, knives, penknives and drugs. He again said to me: Why don’t you speak politely and respectfully? I said I didn’t say anything disrespectful, I just asked you not to insult me. Then, he said to me: Does this mean you don’t like my way treatment, son of …? – and started to insult me again. Then he called one of the non-commissioned officers police officers and said to him: Put this penknife and some drugs into his pockets and throw him in custody on charges of possession, because he does not like the way I treat him. However, the non-commissioned officer kindly acted as mediator between me and the pasha, the officer, and appealed to him to let me leave.”
