Police beat man inside Cairo metro station

In response to a widely circulated video of policemen brutally beating a man inside Dar al-Salam metro station in Cairo, the Interior Ministry stated that the officers in question were referred to an investigative committee. 

The video was shot by a passerby and was first uploaded to the internet on Tuesday. It shows a low-ranking police officer beating a young man on the metro platform while two other policemen, one of which is plain-clothed, hold him down. 

The victim is then dragged up the station’s stairs while the officer continues to both physically and verbally assault him. The officer can be heard sarcastically telling the victim that he was “going to give him the rights he was asking for,” before they all disappear inside the police room at the metro station. 

According to the popular narrative, the victim’s fiancee had been sexually harassed by a group of men at the metro. The woman purportedly sought help from a policeman in the station who ignored her complaint. The victim in the video later approached the same policeman to complain about it, but they reportedly engaged in a verbal altercation. After the victim asked to file a report against the policeman, other officers at the station began physically assaulting him.

Witnesses to the incident can be heard begging the policemen to stop the beating throughout the video, and what seems like the shooter of the video saying that “this is just not right.” 

Mada Masr was unable to verify the alleged circumstances of the video. 

On Wednesday, Deputy Interior Minister Magdy Abdel Ghaffar referred the incident to the Inspection Department for further investigation, privately-owned Youm7 newspaper reported.

“The Interior Ministry respects Egyptian citizens and will not tolerate police brutality,” Abdel Ghaffar said. 

He added that they emphasize on the police’s mission to protect citizens and their rights, which is their national duty. 

Reports of police brutality have been escalating in recent months. On July 26, a witness due to testify in a torture case was reportedly beaten unconscious by police.

On July 12, A police officer shot lawyer Mohamed al-Gamal inside a Nasr City Court in east Cairo. Gamal had allegedly attempted to give a cell phone to a client he was defending, while the defendant was held inside the court's detention room.

A fight broke out between Gamal and a police officer from Amiriya Police Station after the police refused to allow a cell phone into the detention room. Gamal headed to the Lawyers Syndicate bureau inside the courtroom to notify his colleagues of the incident, when the police officer shot him in the back.

On June 4, the Lawyers Syndicate called for a general strike after a police officer at the Farskor Police Station in Damietta used his shoe to assault a lawyer from the Court of Cassation, causing severe injury to his left eye.