CAIRO: State security forces forcibly entered the home of a fourth-year Ain Shams student and physically assaulted her family, the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE) said in a statement yesterday. AFTE says that police officers entered Maha Magdy El-Khadrawy's home on Saturday - while she was not at home - and used force against the faculty of commerce student's mother and younger brother. AFTE lawyer Ahmed Ezzat told Daily News Egypt that the officers pushed El-Khadrawy's mother that resulted in injury to her arm. "She can't move or use her arm as a result of the attack but is too scared to file a complaint or go to hospital to have it checked, Ezzat said. According to AFTE's statement, the police threatened El-Khadrawy's mother that they would track down and arrest El-Khadrawy "wherever she may be. El-Khadrawy's brother was hit on his head during the attack, according to the AFTE statement, and the police officers seized a large number of the student's books as well as her computer hard drive. At the time of the incident El-Khadrawy - a member of the April 6 Youth Movement - was on the Ain Shams University campus collecting signatures for a petition in support of amendment of articles of the Egyptian Constitution concerning the right to stand for election. Ezzat says that this activity is the only conceivable reason why El-Khadrawy was targeted, and that the incident "is a form of intimidation. "It's likely that Maha wasn't arrested on campus because detention of female students is always problematic, Ezzat explained.
