A Few Samples of Egyptian Police Brutality

McClatchy Newspapers
Examples of Egyptian complaints of police abuse

July 19, 2010

CAIRO — Since February, an independent, nonprofit torture-victims advocacy group in the Egyptian capital has kept a diary of allegations of human rights abuses under the emergency codes in Egypt. Here are some examples of entries, based solely on victims' stories and records compiled by the Nadeem Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence and other human rights groups:

June 11: A group of police officers and plainclothes agents reportedly beat some 70 demonstrators and arrested 12 in Alexandria who were expressing anger at the killing of Khaled Said, whose beating death earlier that week sparked nationwide protests against police brutality.

June 7: A police force armed with batons and guns allegedly stormed the village of Amriya on the outskirts of Alexandria, attacking sharecroppers to remove them from the land they'd farmed for years. A high-ranking state security official had purchased the land and reportedly wanted to clear off the farmers. Police officers allegedly beat the women and threatened them with rape, and arrested many of the men.

June 6: Two plainclothes police agents in Alexandria reportedly beat Khaled Said to death. Witnesses said that the policemen tied Said's arms behind his back and roughed him up, including smashing his head against a marble slab. Said then was dragged outside and shoved into a neighboring building. His assailants continued to beat him, ramming his head against an iron gate, steps on a staircase and the walls of the building. Photos of Said's lifeless body, broken teeth and dislocated jaw were widely circulated on the Internet, stirring a wave of protests that lasted for weeks.

May 24: A police force allegedly beat and dispersed a group of workers who'd staged a strike in front of the house of Parliament in Cairo. The officers took away cameras and cell phones from journalists who were covering the sit-in.

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