Officer detained for assaulting lawyer at Alexandria police station

A police officer in Alexandria is being held in remand detention on charges of physically assaulting a lawyer at an Alexandria police station on Wednesday last week.

The lawyer, Islam Mohamed Ibrahim al-Danoush, suffered a fractured skull and internal bleeding in his brain and was admitted to the intensive care unit of the Mostafa Kamel Armed Forces Hospital, according to a medical report that lawyers obtained from the hospital on Thursday.

His condition is currently stable though he is still receiving treatment, according to Alexandria lawyer Ashraf Abdel Mouti. In a Friday statement, the Public Prosecution said it is waiting for the lawyer’s condition to stabilize so he can be examined by the Forensic Medical Authority as part of the investigation.

The assault took place when Danoush accompanied his sister, Nagwa, to the First Montazah Police Station on Wednesday in relation to a dispute about a property that Nagwa was renting. Nagwa told Mada Masr that she held a contract for a rent-controlled property that she was not living in and had discovered that the locks were changed. After forcing her way into the property, Nagwa  found that the owners had removed all her possessions. 

Nagwa said that she and her brother, Danoush, were filing a complaint at the station about the property at the same time as the property owner was filing a report with their side of the dispute. The officer on duty, who heard both the reports, gave orders for Danoush’s sister to be taken into custody, according to both Nagwa and Mohamed Basha, the head of the Alexandria branch of the Lawyers Syndicate.

Danoush argued that his sister should not be held in custody and a verbal altercation ensued and escalated. The officer repeatedly hit Danoush in the head with his service gun, according to Nagwa and Basha. Basha said Danoush was bleeding from his mouth and nose and lost consciousness, after which the officer dismissed the two parties to the rental dispute from the station saying he had referred their complaints to the Public Prosecution, telling both to come to the prosecution on Thursday morning.

Abdel Mouti told Mada Masr that lawyers who were at the station at the time of the incident likewise confirmed that there was a “fight” between a lawyer and a police officer at the station. Abdel Mouti said he contacted the station chief to ascertain what had happened and that the chief, who said he was not at the station at the time, later told Abdel Mouti that a “minor” altercation between Danoush and the officer had been resolved. 

Abdel Mouti said the station chief asked him if he would ensure that Danoush and Nagwa attend the prosecution on Thursday for an investigation about the rental dispute so as to avoid the need to hold them in custody until then, to which Abdel Mouti agreed. 

The Alexandria branch of the Lawyers Syndicate has submitted a civil rights claim against the interior minister demanding temporary compensation of LE1 million, and holding the minister responsible for the actions of his subordinates, while also accusing the officer of attempted murder, lawyer Mohsen Bahnasy told Mada Masr.

The interior minister reportedly acted on Thursday to suspend the officer and the station’s deputy chief and to form a technical inspection team to be sent to Alexandria to investigate the incident, chair of the Alexandria syndicate branch Abdel Halim Allam has announced.

The officer, the station deputy chief and several other police personnel were initially summoned for investigation by the Montazah Public Prosecution, though the deputy chief and the other personnel were ordered released on Friday. Abdel Mouti told Mada Masr that the deputy chief provided evidence that he was not at the station at the time of the Wednesday incident, and Danoush testified that the police personnel were not involved in the incident.

The prosecution ordered the officer held for four days on Friday, and a 15-day detention order was issued on Sunday to keep the officer in remand pending further investigation.