Police brutality, a hallmark of the pre-revolutionary regime, is once again hitting the headlines, Ahmed Morsy reports Increased incidents of murder and torture in police stations over the last month have been branded by one respected NGO as an "extremely dangerous development". In the first week of September hundreds of demonstrators gathered before the Court Complex of Alexandria to protest against police mistreatment of student Emadeddin Ahmed. Ahmed was arrested during an Alexandria University demonstration and, he alleges, tortured during detention. Mahmoud Gaber, one of Ahmed's friends, told Al-Ahram Arabic website that the police chief in charge of Bab Shark police station, where Ahmed was held, was the same officer who headed the Sidi Gaber police station when Khaled Said was beaten to death by two policemen in 2010. Said's brutal murder in the street by police attached to Sidi Gabr police station was one of the incidents that helped kick-start the 25 January Revolution. During their protest Ahmed's supporters chanted "We will not accept another Khaled Said". At Shebin Al-Kom police station in Menoufiya two brothers, Tamer and Ayman El-Sayed, say they were assaulted following a verbal clash with a policeman when they were stopped for riding a motorcycle without a licence. Most disturbing, perhaps, is the incident that took place in the village of Mit Ghamr in Daqahliya which left two villagers dead, one after being tortured in the local police station, the second shot by police when villagers protested in reaction to the first death. According to the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights clashes began when the police raided coffee shops in Mit Ghamr, beating customers and breaking furniture. The villagers protested outside the police station and one of them, Atef Al-Menassi, went into the building to file a complaint against an officer. "He was then attacked by police officers and repeatedly struck with rifle butts, as was another resident, Mustafa Mohamed Mustafa, who accompanied Atef," the rights group said. Beaten unconscious, Atef died on the way to hospital. Locals then began throwing rocks at the police who responded by firing in the air and then at the demonstrators, killing Mohamed Abdel-Latif and seriously wounding another villager in the head. Karim Annara, an official with the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, called on the authorities to intervene and end the "extremely dangerous development". "This is not an individual incident," but reveals the police force "behaves like an armed gang... with torture and murder increasing by the day," he said. The Ministry of Interior response has been to insist it is committed to following through with legal proceedings when such incidents occur. "Minister of Interior Ahmed Gamaleddin commissioned the Inspection and Censorship Sector to investigate the incidents and take appropriate actions," an Interior Ministry source told Al-Ahram Weekly. "All the reports of brutality are being investigated by the prosecutor-general. The ministry respects all prosecution and judicial rulings and wishes to stress its respect for the sovereignty of the law and for human rights." The family of Mohamed Azzam, a bird seller from a village near Sohag who died after being detained, have also accused police officers of his murder. Azzam was taken from his home by police officers and subsequently died on the way to hospital after being removed from the police station unconscious. "Azzam was arrested in implementation of a court ruling," Sohag Security Director-General Abdel-Aziz Al-Nahhas said in a television interview. "After entering the police station he asked for a cup of water and then fell to the ground. He died on the way to the hospital. We agreed to allow his family members to enter the morgue to make sure that there were no signs of torture on his body." The facial bruising and traces of blood that Azzam's relatives then saw, says Al-Nahhas, were a result of "his unconscious falling on the floor". The forensic team examining Azzam's corpse have yet to report their findings.
