Two further cases of alleged police violation occurred Monday, in which a police officer assaulted and harassed a woman in front of Al-Marg metro station, while one police officer and eight informants assaulted and arrested a doorkeeper in Damanhour governorate.
In a televised phone interview with TV anchor Gabr Al-Karmoty on Monday, a woman named Ghada Hussein described how a police officer in Al-Marg district assaulted and harassed her in front of Al-Marg metro station. The interview was broadcast on privately owned programme Al-Manchette.
She explained that the police officer wanted to take her to his home, but when she firmly refused and told him that his behaviour was unacceptable and that she was waiting for her husband, he tried to convince her to follow him, saying he would “pay for her”.
Following the incident, Hussein’s husband immediately went to Al-Marg police station, but the officers there refused to receive his complaint against the police officer. He went on to file two complaints, one to the Ministry of Interior and the other in Fifth Settlement police station; they are still awaiting replies.
“When I went the headquarters of the interior ministry to file the compliant, I requested to meet the minster, but they said he doesn’t have time to listen to such issues,” her husband said in the televised phone call.
In response to his complaints, a group of police officers came to his house and arrested him, where a police officer named Ahmed Tarek purportedly attempted to plant a large amount of drugs and threatened to bring drug possession charges against him, if he and his wife do not drop the complaints filed against the other Al-Marg police officer.
The husband confirmed that he was never accused of any charges and it was his first at a police station. Hussien said she was prepared to face any consequences if the ministry could prove her accusation against the police officer false.
According to the show host El-Karmoty, following the phone interview, an officer from the ministry called the show’s administration and requested the husband’s phone number in order to investigate the issue.
As for the case of the doorkeeper, a police officer with eight informants was riding in a police vehicle when he saw Mohamed Mosaad and ordered the driver to pull over.
Initially, the police officer asked Mosaad for identification and inspected him with the help of the informants. However, after harsh words were exchanged between Mosaad and the policemen, they took him to Damnhour police station and beat him until he fell unconscious and he bled from his mouth, Mossad said in a video published by Al-Badia newspaper
Recently, Interior Minister Magdy Abdel Ghaffar said in press conferences that police violations are individual cases and people should not generalise or blame the entire ministry.
Reports of violations inside prisons and police stations have been on the rise on social media and media outlets; however, police continue to deny these accusations.
Several human rights activists, organisations, and political parties have called on the ministry to limit and investigate these police violations against citizens and prisoners, referring to Egyptian law and human rights regulations.
