Freedom and Justice Party, Alexandria: Abducting Our Leaders Dangerous Shift in Political Action

Ahmad Saeed, Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) leader in Sidi Bishr district of the Egyptian sea-port city of Alexandria, tells the details of his abduction by members of the Constitution Party and the Popular Current:

I was on my way to a hospital in Fleming. More than 100 members and supporters of the Constitution Party and the Socialist Revolutionaries and Popular Current were standing outside Al-Raml police station. As I passed the station, one of them yelled, “This dude is an FJP leader”.

They chased and grabbed me, and pushing me roughly in a taxi, they kidnapped me, hitting me hard all the while. They took me to Al-Wizarah station, then to Mansheya.

About 30 people took me to one of the cafes near Mansheya. One of my abductors suggested they should take me to the Constitution Party headquarters, in Mina Al-Basal, to hide me. However, three members of the April 6 Movement released me, smuggling me out secretly, and promised to release others imprisoned in Raml police station.

At a certain moment, I told the kidnappers – who had torn my clothes and beaten me brutally, “What you’re doing has nothing to do with the revolution. This is savagery and barbarism”.

After they released me, I filed a legal complaint (No. 1910/2013) in which I accused supporters of Sameh Mashaly and Mohamed Samir, members of the Constitution Party in Alexandria, of kidnapping, false imprisonment and tearing my clothes.

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In a statement Sunday, the FJP said: The abduction of one of our leaders, Saturday evening, against the background of political conflict, is a serious shift in political action, after the burning and the storming of our headquarters and violent attacks on people and private and public property.

The FJP further said that kidnapping Saeed, by members of the Constitution Party, and assaulting and beating him brutally is evidently a serious crime, most probably in response to the arrest of a member of the Constitution Party in Fleming district by local residents who handed him over to the Police to prevent him from breaking into FJP headquarters there.

Furthermore, the FJP said that the Constitution Party and the National Salvation Front bear full responsibility for the incident. The FJP reaffirmed that while it can control its members’ reaction – although they are already angry with frequent attacks on other memebers and headquarters, the party cannot control the anger of relatives and neighbors and colleagues of the FJP member who was savagely attacked Saturday by members of the Constitution Party, given the condition they saw him in, after his release.