by NTEB News Desk
The fruits of the Arab Spring
Al-Masry Al-Youm spent three hours in total in the torture chambers established by the Muslim Brotherhood at
the gates of the Ittihadiya Palace in the suburb of Heliopolis. The
central torture chamber, which is located in front of the gate facing
the Omar Ibn Abdel Aziz Mosque on al-Merghany Street, is secured with a
cordon and iron barriers, where the Central Security Forces (CSF)
prevent the access of any persons without the authorization of the
Brotherhood.
Protesters
who were injured during overnight clashes between supporters and
opponents of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, are pictured with their
hands bound while being detained in front of the presidential palace in
Cairo, December 6, 2012. (photo by REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany)
We
entered the chamber with a great difficulty, after a fellow journalist
from the Misr 25 TV channel facilitated. The channel is owned by the
Brotherhood. There are brigades and police officers in military
uniforms, as well as others in civilian clothes from al-Nozha police
station, who oversee the beatings, whippings and torture. Fifteen others
from the group, distinguished by their strong bodies, are supervised by
three bearded and well-dressed men who decide who will be in the
chamber and who may leave, even if the person is a member of the
Brotherhood.
Now
what was that again about the Arab Spring being a "youth movement
protest for democracy". How "democratic" would you think this man feels
right about now?
The torture process starts once a demonstrator who opposes President Mohammed Morsi is arrested in the clashes or is suspected after the clashes end, and the CSF separate Morsi’s supporters from his opponents.
Then, the group members trade off punching, kicking and beating him
with a stick on the face and all over his body. They tear off his
clothes and take him to the nearest secondary torture chamber, from
which CSF personnel, members of the Interior Ministry and the State Security Investigations Services (SSIS) are absent.
It
is hard to determine how many locations there are, given that the
torture chambers are established as near as possible to where a person
is arrested. Before the interrogation process starts, they search him,
seize his funds, cellphones or ID, all the while punching and slapping
his face in order to get him to confess to being a thug and working for
money.
They
ask him why he took to the street, whether he got paid to take part in
the protest and whether he supports Mohamed ElBaradei, founder of the
Constitution Party, or Hamdeen Sabahi, founder of the Egyptian Popular
Current or the dissolved Egyptian Nationalist movement. As long as this
person denies the allegations, they beat him and insult his parents.
After that, a person will videotape the interrogation and contact the
Misr 25 TV channel to tell them about the interrogation and arrest.
After
a while, the detainee is transported from the secondary torture chamber
to the central one. On his way, the beatings and insults continue.
Every time the prisoner encounters a member of the Brotherhood, that
person gets in his share of the insults and beatings.
They
also may collectively insult him before he enters the central room,
while a Brotherhood lawyer hands over his national ID card, his funds
and his belongings to the SSIS chief. Some members of the group claim to
have seized weapons from the detainee and handed them over to the
officers at al-Nozha police station. However, we were unable to verify
that.
A
young detainee shouted in the faces of the men in the chamber: “I am a
bearded sheikh, and Sheikh Safwat Hijazi will avenge me. I am a friend
of all sheikhs. God is all I need and he is the best guardian; I am a
Muslim just like you.” Another bleeding man said, “I am educated; I am
not a thug, leave me alone.” A third person, born in the region of
Sayyida Zaynab, was accused of following Fathi Srour, former speaker of
the People's Assembly, and got a significant share of the beatings.
The
health conditions of some of the prisoners was very bad and they were
unable to answer questions. Some of them were bleeding all over their
bodies, severely exhausted and not receiving any medical aid. However,
some got a bottle of water to drink or something to use to stop their
bleeding.
Once
10 people had been arrested, police officers and state security chiefs
in the chamber demanded that the three Muslim Brotherhood leaders in the
room secure passage for the prisoners to the nearby al-Nozha police
station and prevented the Brotherhood members from attacking them again.
This all really happened
Once
the arrested group left, another arrived. Outside the central torture
chamber, three people were detained and brought into the security room
within the palace at the main gate on Al-Ahram Street.
The
Brotherhood youth don't have control over this location. Their role
ends once they hand over the arrestees to the guards. We successfully
took a picture of one of the detained men, but the other two were
already in the palace. The Brotherhood youth accused one of them of
possessing a weapon and shooting a member of the group. Some detainees
remained in the secondary torture chambers and were not handed over to
the state security officers.
We
left the place and found blood flowing on the sidewalk of the palace.
Someone had tried to cover the blood with soil to remove it. However, no
one will be able to clean the image of this blood from the memory of
Egyptians for hundreds of years. source - Al Monitor
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