Dozens of Egyptian doctors staged a protest on Thursday outside the office of the attorney general in downtown Cairo after a prosecutor allegedly assaulted a female doctor in Red Sea Governorate, southeast of Cairo. The protesters threatened to stage an open-ended sit-in if suitable actions are not taken against the accused prosecutor, Ahmed Hamed. The doctor, Mariam Azmy, works at the intensive care department in Hurghada General Hospital. The protesting doctors claimed that on 21 September, Hamed stormed the intensive care department, cuffed Azmy, and verbally insulted her. The protesters alleged that Hamed trapped Azmy after she prevented him from interrogating an intensive care patient. Hamed filed a complaint against Azmy, accusing her of insulting one of the policemen accompanying him, protesters also said. Hamed then detained Azmy for nearly an hour and half in Hurghada police station, during which time she was tortured. Hamed then ordered her to apologize to the policeman and released her. Protesters raised banners demanding an immediate investigation into the incident and prosecution of Hamed for abusing his power and illegally detaining and torturing a citizen. They also chanted, calling on the Supreme Council of Armed Forces, the attorney general and the health minister to immediately intervene and take legal action. No authority has the right to storm an intensive care department, they stressed, because it is illegal and puts patients at risk. Translated from the Arabic Edition
