CAIRO: On December 27, security forces from the Omraneya Police Station in Alexandria, arrested 50-year-old Akram Saeed Jarada and his 36-year-old wife Sahar Mohamed Mansour. The family of the victims have revealed the husband and wife were beaten and tortured during their jailing. Jarada, a Palestinian citizen, who has lived in Egypt for nearly 40 years, was arrested after security forces raided his factory in the Maryotteya district, Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood reported last week. State Security forces broke into the factory and arrested Sahar, accusing her of the “illegal use of the electricity's power lines.” Jarada then asked the officer, Mohamed El-Ashry, who works at the Mariotteya police station, to show him his identity and the arrest warrant, but was ignored. Jarada refused to let the officer arrest his wife and they were later dragged to the factory and brutally beaten with iron rods, the Brotherhood reported and other reports confirmed. The victims were kicked in the head, stomach and faces, which resulted in many injuries and broken bones, a family member told Bikya Masr. El-Ashry ordered his fellow officers to transfer them to the police station, where they continued their inhumane beatings, Ikhwanweb reported. “Detectives also joined the gang, kicking the victims and humiliating them. Their young child witnessed the brutality crying profusely,” the report added. Jarada was hit in the face with the officer's shoe in an attempt to humiliate him further, sources said. Police Commissioner Arafah Abdel Ghaffar later dragged them on the floor of the police station. Once Akram was released, he contacted his lawyer where they immediately submitted a complaint in which they accused Mohamed El-Ashry and Arafah Abdel Ghaffar of beating and torturing them in the Omraneya Police Station, in addition to their illegal four-day detention ordered by the Omraneya Chief Detective, Medhat Fares. Immediate investigations are under way, a source close to the family has said. The case of Mr. Jarada and his family is blatant evidence on the brutality, torture and abuse in which some police treat citizens, “demonstrating the lack of respect to the law and Constitution, which stipulates that citizens have the right to live with dignity,” Ikhwanweb said. The question raised is who is to protect citizens from police if they have withdrawn and shirked their responsibility “to protect and serve after ignoring their oath?” **writing by Joseph Mayton. BM
