CAIRO: Alya el-Hosseiny detailed the circumstances of leading human rights researcher Amr Gharbeia's arrest, as she was with him as he was attacked by citizens near Abbassiya square during Saturday's violence. It reveals the influence of the military statements of the past two days, saying the 6 of April youth movement has a “suspicious plan.” According to the account, people are believing the reports. She wrote on Facebook her account of what happened. Hosseiny wrote that at around 9:30 pm and in Ahmed Lotfy al-Said street, her group, including Gharbeia, passed Ain Shams Medical School and close to al-Demerdash metro station when a group of young men, “loud-voiced,” approached the group. She then turned around to see them grabbing Gharbeia from his pony-tail, hitting him and wanting to search him. “I tried to defend him and say he is my brother, as we look alike, and then they wanted to search me too,” she said, adding that they had Gharbeia by the neck and shouting “he is part of 6 of April movement and a spy.” They asked Gharbeia about his ID and he told them they had taken it already when they took his bag for searching. Hosseiny said that when she received his bag, it was empty and the men had taken what was inside, including his ID. She continued that the attackers wanted to turn Gharbeia over to the military police so they could decide if he should be arrested or not. Gharbeia then told them that he would turn himself in and they walked down the street looking for a police checkpoint. She noted that one of the attackers took out a video camera and took images of Gharbeia while shouting in the camera: “a spy … a spy.” The attackers then began stopping passersby and asking them where the police point was and many gave them directions. One man even offered to give them a ride in his car. The attackers told people who were coming up to them out of curiosity that they found “white powder” with him, referreing to cocaine or heroin, which Hosseiny denied strongly to those people. She wrote that she kept screaming at them “let go of my brother” and the attackers then threatened to turn her over to the military police as well. She concluded by saying that she and the group she was with found it difficult to follow where they took Gharbiya as they took off in a car. Gharbeia's whereabouts remain unknown as of early Sunday morning. A number of reports have reported that other protesters in the area were also attacked and arrested along with Gharbeia, along with those taken to Aim Shams Hospital. Their whereabouts also remain unclear. BM
