CAIRO: The Hisham Mubarak Law Center demanded full protection for the Central Security Forces conscript who allegedly refused to fire on demonstrators during the clashes that took place last month on Mohamed Mahmoud Street.
The center identified the conscript as Ibrahim Fathy Adly Said and demanded that the Ministry of Interior, the Attorney General and the judge investigating the complaint filed by the conscript’s lawyers to protect him in his capacity as a key witness on the events of Nov. 19-24 that left over 40 people dead.
Said filed a complaint to give his account of the events, according to lawyer Ahmed Saif Al-Islam, founder of the center.
Saif Al-Islam said that the conscript, who was previously given an alias by the center for protection, refused to obey the orders of his commander to fire pellets on the protesters on Nov. 19 during the clashes between protesters and security forces.
His commander then hit him on the head with a stick, leading him to lose consciousness, Saif Al-Islam said.
Said received treatment at a field hospital in Tahrir Square, according to the center.
The Hisham Mubarak Law Center and the Lawyers’ Syndicate’s freedoms committee are representing Said, among other lawyers.
Saif Al-Islam confirmed that Said is hiding in a safe place and will not appear until after the testimony in the case.
The lawyer denied that Said’s family received serious threats following the complaint.
"There were the regular threats, but nothing serious," he said.
Meanwhile, a statement issued by the Ministry of Interior Monday denied Said’s claims.
The ministry said it went over all the officers that participated in securing the ministry and the surrounding streets, especially Mohamed Mahmoud Street during the last events, and that Said was not among them.
"The conscript in question was among the Central Security Forces in Helwan and he has been absent from the place of his recruitment since March 6, 2011. He was taken off the service records on March 27, 2011 and therefore he could not have been among the forces in the last events."
Meanwhile, Lieutenant Colonel Mohamed Abdel Rahman, general coordinator of the Honorable Policemen Coalition, was referred to disciplinary court on charges of abstaining from work during the first months of the revolution.
"This is the outward charge. But the real thing is that this is an attempt by the new interior minister to appear as the man who uses the iron fist to restore security in the country," said former lieutenant colonel Mohamed Mahfouz, member of the coalition who is representing Abdel Rahman.
Mahfouz added that the new minister is using the old tactics of terrorizing honorable police officers stressing that the minister has not used his powers in a referral to the Disciplinary Board against officers accused of killing demonstrators during the 18-day uprising or against corrupt officers.
The police will remain in the service of the regime, Mahfouz told Daily News Egypt.
"Abdel Rahman started missing work the day he was at the headquarters of Al Jazeera news channel where he was interviewed. When he came out, a car driven by a masked man tried to hit him but failed," Mahfouz said, pointing out that this was an attempt by the state security apparatus to assassinate him.
Since then, he said, Abdel Rahman was afraid to go to work until the last two or three months.
Abdel Rahman, who signed a document not to speak to media outlets, will stand trial on Dec. 25.
