CAIRO: A protestor arrested during a Kefaya demonstration on Tuesday says that he was tortured in police custody.
Bahaa Saber was seen by Aida Seif El-Dawla, a psychiatrist with the Nadeem Center for the Rehabilitation of the Victims of Violence, on Tuesday night in the El-Hilal Hospital.
Seif El-Dawla says that Saber had extensive injuries.
“He was in pretty bad shape. The left side of his face was a pulp, terribly swollen and had a cut wound. He looked frightening; this injury was not the result of an ordinary punch, Seif El-Dawla told Daily News Egypt.
“He also couldn’t move the small finger of his left hand at all, had bruises and contusions all over his body and was unable to move generally, Seif El-Dawla continued adding that she requested that Saber be sent for an X-ray of his head.
Saber began chanting outside the cordoned off area designated for the Kefaya demonstration at around 3 pm on Tuesday. Police initially circled him but did not physically restrain him.
A large group of officers attacked Saber after he pulled off a policeman’s hat and threw it in the air. Another protestor, Sayyed Ragab, who came to Saber’s aid was also physically assaulted.
Saber then reappeared, topless. Police officers surrounded him and put him in a passing taxi while other protestors tried to prevent them doing so. Police officers were seen getting into the taxi and sitting on top of Saber before it drove away.
Malek Adly from the Hisham Mubarak Law Center was one of two lawyers who attended Saber’s questioning at the public prosecution office. He described what happened as recounted to him by Saber.
“Bahaa says that the tortured him from the moment they took him until 8 pm that evening, Adly told Daily News Egypt.
“They removed his shoes and used them to hit him across the face repeatedly in the taxi. He was then taken to the Boulaq Abul Ela police station where he was stripped, handcuffed behind his back and made to lie facedown on the floor,
“Policemen then parted his buttocks and took turn spitting in his anus. Bahaa said that a mobile phone was used to film this.
Adly says that policemen washed the blood off Saber before dressing him in a shirt and trousers they purchased.
The police alleges that Saber resisted the authorities. Adly says that the police report describes Saber “chanting against the regime and the [ruling] National Democratic Party and “undressing in the street and throwing himself on the ground.
The police report alleges that Saber’s injuries are friction burns caused when he dragged himself across the road and are also a result of the force they needed to use to restrain him.
While questioning on the charge brought by the police was meant to take place Tuesday evening at the Azbakeyya public prosecution office, Adly says it had to be postponed until Wednesday morning because of Saber’s physical condition.
By the time of press lawyers were waiting for a decision from the Attorney General about whether the public prosecution office would press charges against Saber or release him.
