Ahmed Moor wrote this article on Thursday in Cairo. It appears here for the first time.
I didn’t know where to go for today’s round of anti-regime protests. There wasn’t any question of whether they’d happen; Tuesday invigorated people. I spent some time in the morning trying to identify where demonstrators were likely going to congregate, but reports were confused so I set out for Tahrir square. That’s where the previous day’s largest protest had been.
The area was teeming with people when I got there, but they weren’t demonstrators. Tuesday had been a national holiday – Police day – and on Wednesday everyone was back at work. Looking around I wasn’t sure how the pedestrian crush and roundabout traffic congestion was going to impact things. The cars, busses, motorcycles and trucks would make it impossible for the riot police to create their human cordon in the streets. And the numbers of passersby made it difficult to identify who was there to protest and who was just there for regular life. I figured that the demonstrators would have the upper hand at the outset.
A crowd started to form near one of the subway stops on the square and I made my way over. The station had been shut down to make it difficult for people to travel to the area – it was about 2 pm now, about the same time the protest began on Tuesday. Commuters were confused about what to do and began to vent their frustration. That was how the protest began. Ironically, the first chant was, “Let us go home!”
The riot police quickly surrounded us – I was pretty close to the people chanting by then – and began to tighten the cordon. I was filming everything, and I wasn’t too concerned about being inside the circle of riot guards. They just didn’t seem that threatening after the events of the previous day.
Things began to get nasty very quickly. The riot police had been passive for the first few minutes, only holding the cordon and tightening it. But then their commanders appeared with mad eyes and preset viciousness. They snarled orders: “Hit him! Harder!” and, “Give them shit to eat!”
And they did.
I kept filming when a group of plainclothes mukhabarat men burst through the cordon and began to pummel women with their meaty fists. I recorded one woman’s screams and filmed as her face and veil were bloodied. And I filmed another woman’s panicked tears – she was so scared.
It was while I was filming that the first strike fell across my back; a policeman had hit me from behind once, then a second time. The pain was ferocious. One of the mukhabarat men joined him by tackling me and wrapping his arm around my neck.
“You like taking pictures, faggot?” he barked in Arabic.
Another mukhabarat thug began to pull me out of the circle when I started to protest in English. This was something I’d been doing – pretending to not speak or understand Arabic. I knew from earlier experiences in Egypt that claiming to be a journalist didn’t help very much. A journalist friend had been arrested despite having his credentials, and I had none so my best defense was to play dumb. And I didn’t want to get deported.
“Look, I’m an American. I’m just a tourist,” I said, feeling like a coward.
They continued to drag me and I struggled against them and wherever it was they were taking me to. Nothing I said worked so I finally told the two of them that I’d walk myself. They assented – I was yelling loudly in English at this point – which gave me an opportunity to remove the SD card from my camera and slip it into my pocket. More than anything, I regret that I didn’t have a chance to put it anywhere else.
We approached an abandoned garage away from the square when one of them began to reach for my camera. It was in my right hand and I pulled away. I started to say, “You can’t take that” when someone hit me hard in the face with a closed fist. And then the others joined in. It turned out that there were four other mukhabarat men in the dark, fetid space along with other demonstrators who’d been worked over already.
Still, I didn’t give the camera up. They knocked me to the floor and held my legs and left arm down. One of the animals began to kick me in the ribs and stomped on my collar bone. He stood on my chest so I couldn’t breathe and I let go when I began to lose consciousness.
I was yelling the whole time but I don’t remember what I was saying. I don't remember a lot of what they said either, but they had a few favorite lines they repeated for the next few hours:
“We’re going to fuck your mother.”
“We know you’re an Arab, you son of a whore.”
After they got the camera they picked me up and frisked me. They missed the SD card but took my passport and tripped me into a group of men sitting on the piss-covered floor. My guess is that the mukhabarat men prepared it that way before they began to arrest us.
The other men were all hugging their knees and facing the back wall and I was told to the do the same. I was committed to my not understanding Arabic story, so I remained unresponsive. That earned me another blow to the face and some slaps on the back of the neck and head. But I didn’t move too much and managed to continue to watch the spectacle of modern day Egypt from the vantage point of a piss-covered floor. That seemed appropriate to me.
They brought in a skinny kid a little while after that. He gave them his name and told them he was born in 1993. One of the beefy psychopaths accused the boy of trying to throw a punch and began to choke him. He choked him until he lost consciousness. The legitimate representative of the Egyptian government then let the boy fall to the floor where he began to vomit on his side. None of the animals moved to help. Instead, they picked him up after he came to and cast him into our pile.
Noticing my distress, a demonstrator turned to me and whispered in English, “I’m very sorry. This is not Egypt. This is the president Hosni Mubarak.”
I felt like weeping. Here I was taking refuge behind the Leader of the Free World, and this man who had nothing and no one to protect him, who was very likely going to be badly hurt, thought it was important to comfort me. I didn’t know how to respond.
Sometime later someone tried to interrogate me but his English wasn’t up to the task. I was frisked again which is when they found my SD card. My heart sank; I felt that it was all for nothing.
After about two hours on the floor, a high-ranking rooster came in and told the 25 other men that they were being taken to the police station. Meanwhile, I was pulled out and handed my passport. Someone who spoke English explained that it was a misunderstanding and that I shouldn’t take it too badly. Apparently, they believed the stupid tourist story. Or maybe they didn’t. I don’t know. I just felt lucky to get out with only a bloody nose and bruised ribs.
They gave me my camera and returned my cell phone without a battery or SIM card. Of course, the camera had been wiped clean. I stuck around for forty minutes or so trying to get the SD card, battery and SIM card back but I was told that they’d been lost. I’d spent the day lying, so their lies seemed proportionate.
According to the Egyptian Ministry of the Interior, 860 people were arrested in the past two days. More likely than not, they were subjected to brutality reserved only for Egypt’s native-born sons. They have no rights, no guarantees of safety, no protections from abuse and petty vindictiveness, no freedom of speech and no freedom of congregation. They have no protections against illegal seizure of things or people. They have no protection against being disappeared in the night.
They have no human rights. And that’s what this is about.
incredible reporting ahmed. thank you for your sacrifice bringing us the news.
heart
Excellent writing Ahmed. You are a brave man, thank you for reporting this. US tax dollars at work paying for the dictator’s security forces. Next time slip the card in your sock?
Thank you Ahmed, may your wounds heal quickly… and please keep us posted!
They can’t get married. I think that is what this is ultimately about. 9 million young egyptian women can’t get married because 9 million Egyptian men have no money and no jobs.
Mabrouk Ahmed. I had a camera disk full of photos destroyed at Ben gurion airport by Israeli security, if it is any consolation. It is the same swine, ultimately.
seafoid, can you tell us about your situation at ben-gurion? what happened? why did they do that? I also have a ‘ben-gurion story’ which had me quite flustered at the time(taken aside/into a backroom and ‘interogated’ , but never to the point of having my SD card destroyed/confiscated. Can you tell us about it?
Seafoid, I had 9 rolls of film destroyed at Ben-Gurion, photos of backpacking/ friends in Europe. Photos of my teenage friend and I in my teens as well picking wildflowers in the hills. In Ben-Gurion the swine also completely ruined my brand new camera, which cost $300 at the time just to fix. No sorry, no payment, nothing.
The swine scrubbed all my photos from a trip to the West Bank. I only found out when I got back. I rang them to complain and they said I was lying.
That was one of the milestones in my relationship with Zionism. They are amoral.
I wouldn’t mind but one of the photos they destroyed was one I can still picture. It was at Ar Ram between East Jerusalem and Ramallah and out of the window of the service taxi I saw huge columns laid on the ground, building blocks for the wall. At the base of one of them , in the part that would be on the ground, a Palestinian had spray painted “al Quds lina”. Jerusalem is ours.
i called the airline to complain as well and they didn’t believe me either. i remember walking out of costco with all 9 packages of negatives just black/ exposed i guess, and then it brought back all the abuse i had endured at the airport. i remember feeling so violated, all those photos, all that time backpacking, laughing, picking flowers in the hills, walking through the meadows, the sunflowers in the fields along the railroad line toward la gara nord.
all of it was gone, not even a single photo of my friend in Europe Estera/ Esther. it may sound trivial to some but between the harassment at the airport, the ruined film, and the treatment of the airline and games they played with me when i complained and tried to file reports, it was a Kafka-esque nightmare, i experienced PTSD. i kept replaying the images their mistreatment of me at the airport, they made me feel like it was my fault, like i deserved to be violated in this way.
RE: “They have no human rights. And that’s what this is about.” – Ahmed Moor
FROM FIRE DOG LAKE: Please sign our petition to Congress to immediately vote to cut off any American military aid to the Egyptian government. - link to action.firedoglake.com
P.S. In loving memory of Aldous Leonard Huxley (26 July 1894 – 22 Nov. 1963)
‘One of the animals began to kick me in the ribs and stomped on my collar bone. He stood on my chest so I couldn’t breathe and I let go when I began to lose consciousness.’
It’s tempting to react, ‘How can anyone negotiate with violent thugs?’ — as western leaders are still suggesting by not explicitly calling on Mubarak to step down.
But of course, this is the same harsh treatment the US routinely meted out at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, where some prisoners are languishing in their tenth year without charge, representation or trial.
Which means that Americans ultimately face the same acute dilemma — how do you negotiate with a lawless government which, at the margins of its empire, applies torture, kidnapping and executive murder to achieve its ends?
Thanks, Ahmed. Amazing report. But please consider putting your camera away from time to time, when things get too close and too nasty.
Terrible to think this is the friend of the USA and the West, and stability trumps all human rights or democracy, as long as Israel is “secure”. I am glad you survived the experience and can write about it; we just wonder how many others over thirty years have such memories and lasting effects. All the talk of communism and terrorism, and we are the so-called “good guys”.
Remember, Ahmed, you were beaten up by a US client state’s thugs in the interests of regional peace. You took those blows for Israel. If you had fought back that would have been antisemitic.
Here is the LA times spin. All is changed, changed utterly
link to latimes.com
“A lot of our allies in the region — the Saudis, Jordanians and Kuwaitis — will be particularly nervous if it looks like the U.S. is doing in one of their friends.”
Now imagine the day when the US does in Israel.
Amazing report. Thanks for it, and sorry for your injuries. It is indeed a microcosm of American foreign policy all around the world — and it’s the reason people are so fed up with us.
But the era of rule by military force is coming to an end. This is truly a historic time. All the pundits are missing it. But their kids will read about it.
Meanwhile, all across talk radioland in the USA the hosts are stirring fear of The Muslim Brotherhood24/7. Ditto on FOX News, but not quite so blatently. There’s also lots of chain emails going around depicting what life would be like in America if Sharia law takes over.
And now Glen Beck is telling the masses the Egyptian anger and pending starvation will come over here. He’s speculating how high gas at the pump will be, and the dire situation if Suez is blocked; what will it cost to go around the long way; who can afford that? “The people who are planing it, the people who want change, don’t think this is crazy. The Caliphate is coming again;” Muslim Brotherhood, HAMAS, Hezballah–unrest will spread like wildfire across Europe if the Caliphate is reestablished. The goal of “many of the people who are pulling the strings in the Middle East is” to install Sharia law in the Middle East, for starters. The Brotherhood will take a hard line against Israel, leading to Iran, 1979. All of your oil, Americans, will be handled under Sharia law across the Middle East. Beck is pointing out all the Arab countries on his map, one by one–the fires have started all over the map. Iraq is the seat of ancient Babylon, they want it for their new Caliphate. Over in Asia, once the dominos start to fall, maybe it can extend there? Spain and Portgual are weak, have bad economic situations, have lots of Muslims living there. Spain use to be a Muslim country? So what happens? Not the average Egptian, but the people trying to grab the power, Beck says that’s who want this worst case scenario. Their creed: God is our objective; struggle is our way, and a top official of Brotherhood (unnamed) just said, “the people should be prepared for war against Israel; there’s no dialogue with Israelis other than the sword.” Then, we’re next, here in America. There plan for an Islamic state, a Caliphate across the World, is at Glen Beck’s web site; you can go get it, the same one he’s holding in his hand. Reclaiming Revolution adds Marxism–presented as something else, to nudge people in the right direction–building coalitions–go to Muslim Brotherhood Official Website–not theone in English, but the one in the Arab language–Beck says it says prepare for a war against Israel. He doesn’t say who translated for him; he stares at the Arabic script as if he has just read it, looks contemplative; fade out to Roseland Capital ad by that old freak who put his hand under a Zippo lighter to show what a man is, back in the day.
Beck is back; this week he is covering the Muslim Brotherhood in the MIddle East and in the USA; he’s listing their organizations perating in the USA, and across the world–he’s pinting at his global map. Caliphate desires arising everywhere. It’s using verbiage like “social justice” to mask its agenda. Friday’s “Day Of Rage” slogan? –Glen Beck recognizes it from Bill Ayers, Benadine Dorne, and the Weather Underground in the USA’s 1960′s. More in a minute. Fade out to Merit Financial selling you a myriad of gold coins.
“Code Pink is pretty darn cozy with the Muslim Brotherhood. ”
What do they mean by “Come with us an cleanse our country?”
Ethnic cleansing, or cleaning your toilet? They supported the flotilla.
Rathke blogs about Egypt, telling his audience to keep your shoes handy so the dogs can keep barking. Rerolling a longer list of organizations here that are really Muslim Brotherhood agencies.
The Muslim religious zealots have coupled with the reds here to take down the western way of life. Revolution and control. Go check it out for yourself, says Glen, don’t believe him. Why isn’t anyone covering these people yelling “revolution now?” Isn’t that inciting violence?
Meanwhile in “democratic” Israel/Palestine, Ameer Makhoul is Sentenced to 9 years in Prison.
An earlier piece that cites his lawyers’ perspective can be found here for background.
Slightly off-topic, but Asad AbuKhalil (The Angry Arab blogger) has several links to articles about El Baradei and his opinions of Israel. They aren’t very favorable.
link
Not that this should surprise anyone here, but that suggests that if this revolt leads to secular liberals winning elections, the government will probably be a lot more critical of Israel than Mubarak. (Well, unless the US really turns the screws.)
this, just flashed across the screen on CNN
“Staples in short supply in Egypt”
wow,
why wow?
because here’s a scenario that would immediately send hosni mubarak & his henchmen off to who know where
it’s that
as soon as egypt’s about to be deposed president tries to use the threat of a food shorage cum starvation to coerce the people into giving up on taking back their nation,
egyptians answer with “we dare you”
don’t just say that
mean it
won’t that do it?
for the people of the nile, yes
and with the rest of the world sure to follow?
I just interviewed a relative of one of the Elites in the Egyptian military and he explained that he implied that the poor and illiterate don’t care what is going on as long as they can survive. I wouldn’t be surprised if that is the card Mubarak is now playing, “submit or starve”. I am pretty sure most people in Egypt don’t keep a pantry of food/ supplies, most food is fresh or street food. People are probably getting pretty hungry. He did a fine job explaining the mindset/ political theory behind the military power, powerful explanation.
AUC is now evacuating their students:
We sent an email describing the US DOS evacuation process. That procedure requires name, age, birthplace, US passport # and medical needs are provided for each traveler. This info is being collected by AUC in Cairo; to ensure we collect the necessary information on all departing students, we are asking that you also provide our NY staff the same information at ldaXYZ@aucnyo.edu or 212 XYZ-8800
The Oil Companies have already evacuated their employees, or at least Shell.
if evere there was a moment when thomas jefferson’s famous maxim “Gentlemen, we must all hang together or most assuredly we shall hang seperately” rang true,
it’s in egypt right now
only unity
can see them through
the all for one and one for all in pursuit of a better egypt cum world
just saw this tweet:
sdpdx RT @Elazul: Wow, a friend of mine just reported that the falaheen (farmers) said they’d sell their crops on the roads, shouldn’t fear hunger. #Jan25
half a minute ago via TweetDeck
I friend of mind in Cairo said the feeling the people had was “Yes we can” !
Change we can believe in .
“Staples in short supply in Egypt”
What about paper-clips?
Ahmed, I’m pretty sure that your misery about the fate of your fellow prisoners hurts you far more than your physical injuries. But do recognize there was nothing you could do to save them. You could barely save yourself.
What you can do now (and I’m sure that you are already working on it) is to make sure that they are remembered. So take care.
remembered because the author plus so many others keep the struggle alive
the remorse is what a front line combat soldier experiences when his partner gets blown to bits by a roadside bomb – “Why was I spared?”
“remembered because the author plus so many others keep the struggle alive ”
And tells the world about them.
egypt, the perfect place
not that matching horrific scenarios don’t exist elsewhere
but that, like it or not, egypt is where it’s happening
after all
one victory
all it’ll take
““We know you’re an Arab…”
What sick irony?
wasn’t it Fanon who talked of it way back…? a sick expression of abuse between oppressor & oppressed wrapped in racism.
I thought we told you to stay safe, Ahmed, and now you have bruised ribs and it hurts when you breathe! …
Hope you’re feeling better, bro, …best.
all out for egypt
the place where the tryant’s about to be forced out
the people now running the show
a sort of first of its kind
divinely inspired?
or just turned out this way?
here’s a great video Spoof on US State Departments Position on Egypt if anyone is interested
That is awesome, Annie.
we need to get this story out as well as others:
Missing in #Egypt – Help us find Wael @Ghonim, last seen Tahrir Sq #Jan25 Pics link to goo.gl link to goo.gl @sokkari
about 9 hours ago via web
his last tweet said:
Pray for #Egypt. Very worried as it seems that government is planning a war crime tomorrow against people. We are all ready to die #Jan25
5:07 PM Jan 27th via Twitter for BlackBerry®
and he was interviewed on satellite TV:
I tried to stay balanced on 10pm with Mona ElShazly but I couldn’t its time to be biased towards the people’s choice in Egypt. #Jan25
5:18 PM Jan 26th via web
I’m on on 10pm now #Jan25
4:50 PM Jan 26th via web
I’m going to be talking today to Mona ElShazly about #Jan25 and Internet censorship.
1:26 PM Jan 26th via web
Here’s a real live spoof – Mubarak spoofing himself:
Mubarak tells new prime minister to cut prices, blames rioting on islamists
this guy is living in la la land….
Ya Ahmed, I was hoping you would stay safe – so sorry you got badly hurt. Thank you for sharing
According to Haaretz, Israel advised its ambassadors to contact important nations and make sure they understand the importance of Mubarak to the peace in the ME. They also criticize the US for “dropping” an important ally.
Now, this is what that bloody dictator surely doesn´t need, this news just put a 9 mm baretta to his head. And to Israel: the USA always turned against its allies sooner or later, so please wait until it is your turn!
On that day I will open a very expensive bottle of champagne!
Now if THAT ain’t an exciting outch, Ahmed!
Goodness! Stay safe and don’t forget to ice it up!