CAIRO: Al Nadeem Center for the Rehabilitation of Violence launched a campaign Sunday asking activists and rights groups to support Ragai Sultan as the trial of the police colonel accused of physical assaulting him begins. The campaign is inviting activists to attend Sunday's trial at the Alexandria criminal court where Colonel Akram Ahmed Suleiman is facing assault and battery charges. Suleiman has been charged with misuse of force against, and causing permanent bodily harm to Ragai Sultan, who he allegedly attacked with a truncheon last year. Numerous activists have announced their support for the case on Facebook and plan to attend the first session of the trial. This is the first time in 10 years that an officer with a high rank will be prosecuted in such a case, Mohamed Abdel Aziz, a lawyer at Al Nadeem Center on the case, told Daily News Egypt. Most of the police reported abuses recently involved officers of lower ranks. In July 2008, Sultan, who is in his late 40s and suffers from learning disabilities, was arrested while walking on Alexandria's Corniche. Sultan tried to explain his condition to the officers and asked to be released but was taken to the police station where later, according to Al Nadeem Center, he was assaulted by Suleiman and his aides after saying: My brother will come and defend me. They . completely ignored his pleas, Abdel Aziz said. They ignored the official medical documents on Sultan that explain his condition, Abdel Aziz added. Sultan spent three days in intensive care after suffering a broken rib and shoulder, a fracture in the neck and bleeding in the brain which necessitated surgery According to a statement issued by the Nadeem Center for the Rehabilitation of Violence on Monday, the colonel had offered to pay the costs of Sultan s treatment.
