CAIRO: A Cairo Traffic Misdemeanors Court today will try 10 men charged with taking part in an impromptu motorcycle race.
The group of 20-somethings was allegedly racing their motorcycles at 2:30 am in Mohandiseen’s Gamaet El-Dowal El-Arabiya Street last Friday.
One of the defense lawyers, Mohamed El-Dawy, said the charges are baseless and vengeful, citing the difficulty of racing motorcycles in a crowded street like Gamaet El-Dowal El-Arabiya, let alone on a Thursday night when traffic is usually congested until dawn.
El-Dawy claims that there are other motives behind the arrest. “This is the first case referred to court after the new traffic law, [and] they want to show everyone that the law is being implemented and there are harsh punishments for those who break it, he said.
“In addition they want to clean up Gamaet El-Dowal El-Arabiya Street after the recent sexual harassment incident that took place there, but they came down on the wrong people. The boys were in a side street, their motorcycles parked and they were eating.
Amr Ragaa, the brother of one of the detainees, Ezzeldin Ragaa, a student at Modern Academy, gave his account of the incident to Daily News Egypt.
“I was woken up at 2:30 am by a phone call from my brother telling me that he has been arrested ‘because of the motorcycle’ and is now at Dokki Police Station, he said.
Ragaa rushed to the police station where he stayed overnight until his brother and the other detainees walked out handcuffed, as if “they were accused of murder, not just violated the traffic law, he said.
“They were being transferred to the public prosecution office, despite the fact that it was Friday when it’s supposed to be a day off. The procedures were happening so quickly, which this is usually not the case in Egypt, he added.
At the public prosecution office, they were interrogated by prosecutor Shady El-Qady, who reportedly extended their detention until Thursday.
According to the official interrogation documents, the detainees all stated that they were parked in front of a popular fast food restaurant in Gamaet El-Dowal El-Arabiya Street and were sitting on their motorcycles eating their sandwiches when police suddenly arrived and arrested them.
All of them denied taking part in a race that night, citing the crowded street as an inconvenient location for racing motorcycles.
When contacted by Daily News Egypt, the fast food restaurant refused to comment on the issue, claiming they were not aware of what took place since it happened outside the restaurant.
The public prosecution office referred the case to court with the 10 detainees facing the following charges: blocking part of the road in a way that endangers lives and public property, deliberately causing a traffic jam, driving motorcycles that cause noise and participating in a motorcycle race without a license from the responsible authorities.
Three of the detainees are also charged of driving without a license and driving an unlicensed motorcycle.
The lawyers expect the court to issue a verdict today.
“Most likely the verdict will be a fine without a detention since they have already been detained all week, said El-Dawy.
