Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Elder of ZiyonAl-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.Any further questions about Egypt's new, moderate, moral Islamist leadership?
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.
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.
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.
Yes? You in the back? Freedom of the press? OK:
From Egypt Independent:
The presidential office filed a complaint on Monday accusing privately-owned Youm7's editor-in-chief Khaled Salah and journalist Ola al-Shafie of slandering President Mohamed Morsy.Nothing to see here.
The complaint was based on an op-ed in the paper about the clashes at the presidential palace, when supporters of Morsy and the Muslim Brotherhood descended on an opposition sit-in against the constitutional declaration and the referendum on the draft constitution.
Shafie alleges in her article that the Muslim Brotherhood was responsible for killing six people and torturing various political activists. The president's office claims the article defames the president.
The Muslim Brotherhood denies the allegations, claiming that all those killed or injured in the clashes were in fact Brotherhood members, despite video footage and protester testimony demonstrating that members of the Muslim Brotherhood were involved in torturing protesters before handing them over to the police.
Media and human rights watchdogs have expressed concern over the increasing intimidation of journalists who have critiqued the ruling regime.
Media presenter Mohamed Saad was released on bail last week after being interrogated on allegations of insulting the president. Also last week, the broadcast of presenter Hala Fahmy’s show was cut when she criticized the president on air, and she was later referred to the public prosecution.
