Egypt's Minister of Interior, Mansour al-Essawy, decided on Tuesday to suspend a police officer after he abused a citizen in Quwesna village, located in Monufiya Governorate, north of Cairo. A statement by the ministry released on Tuesday morning said First Lieutenant Ahmed Abu Mosallam has been referred to investigation for assaulting Sameh Badran who, according to the statement, filed a complaint accusing the officer of beating and detaining him, as well as forcing him to kiss the boot of a fellow policeman. Badran said he was taking a taxi last Tuesday when the driver hit a police vehicle at a checkpoint, and that he was beaten with sticks and detained by police officers when he intervened to solve a quarrel between them and the taxi driver. In his complaint, Badran said the police officer ordered him to take off his clothes before beating him with a belt, aided by other soldiers. He then forced him to kiss the boots of the police car driver, which Badran said he did for fear of being referred to military prosecutors on fabricated charges. “The officer stuck his boot on my face, saying that next time, I'll not dare to look a police officer in the eye,” Badran recounted.
