The Coptic activist Amir Ayad, who took part in the demonstrations on Friday 22 March in Muqattam against the Muslim Brotherhood, was caught by the Brothers who tortured him savagely, and now lies in hospital in Cairo
The Coptic activist Amir Ayad, who took part in the demonstrations on Friday 22 March in Muqattam against the Muslim Brotherhood, was caught by the Brothers who tortured him savagely, and now lies in hospital in Cairo.
Ayad, who has been in out of consciousness, was able to talk to Magdy Saber of the Maspero Youth Union about what happened that Friday evening.
Saber says Ayad was among the demonstrators when, around 8:00pm, he was caught by the Muslim Brothers. They beat him up and dragged him to a nearby mosque where the beating resumed. Saber says Ayad told him he was stripped naked and hit on all parts of his body. His captors used clubs and hard objects, as well as electric teasers; they tried to smash his knees and hit him on the head. The attack grew more vicious, in addition to verbal abuse, once they found out he was Christian. “The torture continued for several hours,” Ayad said. “When they finally left me for a few minutes I gathered all what was left of my strength and leapt from a window into the street. I crawled away and cried for help. A man whose first name is Yehia heard me and rushed to my help. I managed to give him my brother’s phine number before I lost consciousness.”
Yehia called Ayad’s brother who rushed there and moved him to the Red Crescent Hospital in Downtown Cairo.
Ayad’s body, face, and head were heavily bruised; and his right arm was broken. He had to undergo surgery in which 36 stitches were needed to sew up the cut on his head. He has now regained consciousness and is under intensive care in the hospital.
Ayad is the founder of the Christian Brotherhood and a member of the Maspero Youth Union and the Coptic Youth Front. He has been active lately on the issue of the Coptic detainees in Libya, representing their families and taking their demands to the officials. He was also a member of the fact-finding committee formed by the Shura Council, the upper house of Egypt’s parliament, to look into the matter of the Egyptians detained in Libya.
Watani International
24 March 2013