CAIRO: An engineer was badly beaten by an army officer in front of Al-Azhar institution on Wednesday as he accompanied a group of protesters seeking a meeting with the Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar.
Essam El-Yamany, a 34-year-old computer science engineer, said he was threatened to be taken to a military court if he refused to sign a reconciliation document which would shield the officer who assaulted him from accountability.
Twenty protesters marched from the sit-in in front of the Cabinet headquarters to Al-Azhar on Wednesday hoping to meet the Grand Sheikh Ahmed El-Tayeb, to discuss peaceful transition of power from the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) to a civilian presidential council.
Sheikh Mohamed Farahat, a cleric who represented the protesters, said that the head of Al-Azhar’s security gave him and El-Yamany permission to meet Al-Tayeb, but that the army officer there refused to allow El-Yamany to join him.
Following the meeting, Farahat went back to the protesters who were waiting outside. As he recounted the details of the meeting, the officer walked towards the protesters with a group of soldiers, El-Yamany said.
“They kept following us, which made us uncomfortable. Essam then took out his phone and started taking pictures of the army. Suddenly they started attacking us. One of the officers climbed the fence surrounding Al-Azhar and kicked him in the head then they took him inside the building,” said Farahat.
“Over 25 soldiers were slapping, kicking, punching and hitting us with the butts of their guns. Then they pulled me from my clothes inside the building, while hitting me on the back,” said El-Yamany, who added that one officer was also slapping and cursing him. “It was very humiliating.”
“I fell on the floor from the beating; one of the soldiers grabbed my hand and was trying to break my thumb with his gun,” he added, saying that one officer pointed a rifle to his head and threatened to shoot.
The Al-Azhar security intervened to calm the officer down and led him to an office inside.
El-Yamany said he was forced to sign a reconciliation document asserting that he had a verbal exchange with the officer. The document obliged both signatories not to file law suits against each other or post videos of the fight.
With bruises all over his body, El-Yamany was taken to the hospital where he had five stitches in his hand.
