CAIRO: The recent death of a pregnant woman allegedly at the hands of a police officer in the town of Samalut has again brought to the fore the transgressions of officers from the police force in Egypt.
And while the transgression is just one in a long line of reported cases, what was more of a rarity was the reaction the incident propelled: more than a hundred people attacked policemen with rocks and sticks in retaliation.
That change in the dynamic between the police force and the general public is attributable to a fear of what citizen unrest might result in, according to former police officer Omar Afifi.
“Don’t underestimate us. The security apparatus is terrified of the youth of Egypt right now, he said.
“You ask how can we affect change when the police are everywhere, activists and journalists are in prison, and [the regime] has a stranglehold on the country as if you’re afraid [but the truth is] they’re afraid.
“We’re making them afraid, not the other way round. Look at the Shoura Council fire [last August]; that is the police. This failure [to put out the fire] extends to all other departments of the security apparatus, he added.
Afifi, a police officer for 20 years, authored a book which was swiftly pulled as soon as it hit the bookstores, titled “Alashan Matederebsh Ala Affak (So You Don’t Get Slapped on the Nape of the Neck). In Egypt, being hit on the nape of the neck signifies dishonor and having the wool pulled over your eyes.
“If we abide by the law and constitution in Egypt, many things will change.
The book reads like a treatise on the law governing the interaction between the police and the people, and is written in the same question and answer format used in police interrogations. Afifi wrote it to raise public awareness about citizen rights when dealing with the police; and what the police can legally do and not do, laws that the police flaunt according to the former officer.
“The policeman should serve his people, not what we see now where they stomp on people’s necks. It has turned into a tool of oppression. We imagine the police to be this ogre that is controlling people, but they depend on peoples’ ignorance of the law to do what they want, he said.
Afifi, who fled to the United States in the aftermath of the furor surrounding the book (it was the only country he had a visa for), managed to talk via videoconference at the Heliopolis chapter of the Democratic Front party last month.
He stated that he fled due to fear of what might happen to him had he been arrested, and duly highlighted several different methods of torture carried out here.
Amongst the methods of torture used in Egyptian police stations, according to Afifi, is electrical shocks, urination in the mouth and covering prisoners in sugar and leaving them for the ants.
“I see cowardice in this [torture]. If this officer tried to take on a prisoner man to man he would be torn to pieces, but the officer is a coward, protected by the suit, the rank and the soldiers around him.
He was at pains, however, to point out that there were still upright officers in the police force who were suffering under the ‘obey without question’ mentality that permeates the ranks.
“They [the officers] are picked because they are willing to do anything for the money, the car . but there are others who aren’t like that. And they are viewed with suspicion. Egypt still has good officers, and I hope you protect them because they are terrorized into following orders. There is torture, but are all the officers bad? No, and we must not lose these good officers, he said.
Afifi also predicted that the regime was in its last throes and warned that Egypt is on the verge of an explosion that might be ignited by the simplest thing.
“The regime is dead; the cells that form it have collapsed. They know their days are numbered; all it takes is a spark. They couldn’t extinguish a three-storey building. Egypt is on the verge of explosion at any moment. What matters is what happens afterwards. Do we have a plan? Beware of chaos, he said.
He added, “Who do you think rules this country? It is the lowly foot soldier from Upper Egypt, because the ranking officer without the soldier is nothing. If you reach these soldiers the high ranking officials will be isolated and will escape and we hope to manage not to let them escape with the billions that belong to us.
“More important than change [in the country] is to retrieve our money that was taken by thieves and put in Swiss and American bank accounts.
Afifi also pointed out that change in Egypt was only possible from within, and no help from abroad would help bring about this change.
“Don’t be fooled by the foreign press or media; they are not angels abroad, he said, “they relatively respect human rights in their own countries but not in the world. And don’t be fooled by organizations and NGOs that pretend to care about human rights to profit from it. They have no impact; they are just playing a role.
“No one will bring us human rights but the youth of Egypt, he said. “You are the only hope. And this won’t happen until we feel that this country is ours. No one from the US or EU will change anything, don’t rely on this. No one has time for you. Everything they do is just for show.
