Egypt’s culture minister resigns to protest police violence
Baku, February 5 (AZERTAC). Egypt’s Cabinet spokesman confirmed Egypt’s culture minister Saber Arab has resigned from his position Sunday night; source says minister was upset after a video that showed police attack on unarmed protester on Friday.
Cabinet spokesman Alaa El-Hadidi confirmed that Egyptian minister of culture Saber Arab has submitted his resignation to Prime Minister Hisham Qandil. El-Hadidi added that Arab's resignation has not yet been reviewed by Qandil. A source from the culture ministry told Ahram Arabic news website that Saber sent his resignation Sunday night and that he did not show up for work on Monday.
The source suggested that Arab's resignation was in protest over the assault on protester Hamada Saber, who was shown on television footage being beaten and stripped off his clothes by a group of police soldiers and officers during anti-government protests on Friday.
In one notorious incident, police were filmed dragging and beating a naked activist during a rally against President Mohamed Morsi.
The recent upsurge in unrest in Egypt comes on the second anniversary of the January 25 revolution that ousted Mubarak.
Dozens have been killed and hundreds injured in eight days of violence.
Man beaten by Egypt police shown on TV blaming protesters
A man who was beaten and dragged across the ground naked by Egyptian riot police during a demonstration on Friday was shown on state television blaming the incident on demonstrators.
A video of Hamada Saber, 48, being beaten with truncheons by helmeted police has infuriated the opposition, which accuses President Mohamed Morsi of ordering a harsh crackdown on protests two years after the uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
Morsi's government has announced an investigation into the incident, which came at the end of eight days of violent protests that saw nearly 60 people killed, the deadliest unrest of his seven months in office.
State television aired overnight a recording of Saber, lying on bed in a police hospital, giving his account of the incident, in which he blamed protesters for stripping and robbing him.
It was not clear how his account could be reconciled with the widely seen footage, which clearly showed police beating him with truncheons and dragging him naked across a road.
Saber said he had seen a crowd running and then felt himself shot in the leg.
"I fell over, I failed to stand up again, then they surrounded me in a circle and attacked me," he said. The interviewer asked if he was referring to the demonstrators, and he answered: "Yes I am. They took my clothes off, maybe they were looking for money in my pockets. Then someone among them shouted: 'He is not a soldier. He is not a soldier, he is an old man and you are going to kill him.'
"The soldiers ran towards me. I was afraid of them, but they were saying, 'We will not beat you'. I swear to God this is what happened. I kept on running. They said again: 'Do not be afraid.' I kept running away and they said, 'We are exhausted because of you'."
Prime Minister Hisham Qandil has met with Arab Monday evening to reportedly convince him to withdraw his resignation.
Arab is the third culture minister to resign from office since the 25 January uprising.
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