By Sarah El-Sheikh
A Sudanese national was arrested and tortured by Egyptian police after he came to Egypt to provide his son with medical treatment.
Yehia Zakeria, 50, was arrested with another Sudanese man and taken to Abdeen police station after they left a currency exchange office in Talaat Harb Square in downtown Cairo.
Zakeria said he was assaulted and tortured by the policemen and they also seized all his money, according to the Sudanese media. His story went viral on social media along with his image with bloodied eyes and bruises on his arms and legs.
The Sudanese turned to social media to demand that Egyptians leave Sudan and called for boycotting all Egyptian products.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry denied the incident in a statement to the Sudanese daily newspaper Al-Youm Al-Tali, saying that Sudanese nationals are not being discriminated against in Egypt and that inspections are not directed towards Sudanese nationals only but all people living in Egypt in general.
The statement noted that Egyptian police arrests Sudanese nationals in Egypt for crimes and also noted that the Egyptian Foreign Ministry is reviewing the Sudanese embassy statements regarding the incident.
Earlier in November, the Sudanese Embassy released two statements inquiring on the mistreatment and detention of Sudanese nationals in Egypt.
There were 33 reported incidents of Egyptian border guards killing migrants in 2007 and 2008 and many others experienced severe physical and psychological abuse from human traffickers, according to the Human Rights Watch figures.
