Egypt: Police Violence Video Revives Fear of Return to Old Regime · Global Voices
Victor Salama

A screen grab from RASSD's exclusive video showing a man being tortured at a police station in Egypt
Police brutality has once again grabbed Egypt, after a leaked video allegedly showing a man tortured and humiliated by police officers surfaced. The video was broadcast by RASSD News Network, reminding Egyptians of the police abuse committed during the reign of former president Hosni Mubarak, ousted at the beginning of the Egyptian revolution.
The video, released on November 2, 2013, on RASSD  and its accompanying YouTube page does not give a date to when the abuse took place.
In what looks like a police station, a man is seen being whipped and asked to confess that his name is Sawsan (a girl's name) – and that he wants to be f**ked. The man is forced to repeat this sentence over and over again. (Caution: Strong language)
On Twitter, RASSD says:
#تسريبات_رصد| تسريب جديد حصلت عليه شبكة #رصد يظهر وحشية و لا إنسانية الانقلاب من داخل مركز شرطة أبو قرقاص بمحافظة… http://t.co/c3JsJkcbBI
— شبكة رصد (@Rassd_News) November 3, 2013
A new leak obtained by RASSD Leaks, which shows the brutal and inhumane manner of the coup [government] inside a police station in Abu Qurqas, in Minya governorate.
Although police violence had never disappeared from the Egyptian streets, this new video has sparked outrage, disgust and also despair among netizens.
Farah Saafan exclaims:
الأمل إن في يوم تكون وزارة الداخلية عاملة إجتماع و مدعو فيه كل أفراد الداخلية واحد واحد.. و تحصل المعجزة و الأرض تنشق و تبعلهم
— Farah Saafan (@FarahSaafan) November 2, 2013
My only hope is that one day all Ministry of Interior personnel are gathered in the same place… and then a miracle happens: the earth splits and swallows them all!
Blogger Mostafa Hussein sees a relation between the uncondiotionnal support given to the police and army by part of the Egyptian population and this kind of violence:
مشكلة موضوع الشرطة والشعب أيد واحدة ان أول ما الشرطة بتسمع كده بتعمل اللي في الفيديو ده في الشعب. http://t.co/dmPNoWzgio أيه الحل مع الشرطة؟
— Mostafa Hussein (@moftasa) November 2, 2013
The problem with the Police and people are one hand mantra is that as soon as the police hears that, they do the kind of thing we see in this video
Amr Abdel Halim adds:
الفيديو المسرب لتعذيب مواطن في قسم أبو قرقاص، على بشاعته، يظهر الحد الأدنى فقط لما تمارسه الداخلية يوميا من تعذيب منهجي متوحش
— Amr Abdel-Aleem (@AmrAleem) November 2, 2013
As horrendous as it is, the leaked video that shows a police officer torturing and humiliating an Egyptian citizen. This seems to be the minimum amount of daily and systematic monstrous torture the Ministry of Interior administers
On Facebook, a reader comments:
هل تعتقدوا ان ده بيحصل في اقسام اي دولة متحضرة في العالم حتي لو المتهم قاتل قتيل ممكن يهينوا كرامته لفظيا وبالضرب والاهانة بالشكل ده؟؟؟ وبتسموا الانقلاب ثورة ههههه هي فعلا ثورة بس ثورة مضادة لارادة الشعب المصري يعني ثورة العسكر عالشعب
Do you think this happens in the police stations of any civilised countries? Even if the accused is a killer, they may humiliate him verbally but will they whip and torture him in this manner? And they are calling the coup a revolution haha. It really is a revolution – but a counter-revolution against the will of the Egyptian people. It is the revolution of the Army against the people.
And Fatima Said adds:
Many innocent civilians are being subjected to torture by security forces in #Egypt. We're witnessing a return to Mubarak's police state.
— Fatima Said (@fattysaid) November 6, 2013
Over the years, several police torture videos and allegations have surfaced online. The most famous was the gruesome torture to death of Khaled Said, a 28-year-old man from Alexandria, allegedly murdered by police. A photograph of his disfigured corpse, which surfaced on the Internet, sparked anger and protests that contributed, seven months later, to the fall of Mubarak.