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How a witness seeking justice became a prisoner.
Mohannad Samir's mother
Mohannad is in his final year at high school.
He'd been protesting regularly in Tahrir since Jan 25, 2011.
On Dec 20th, the last day of the cabinet building clashes,
Mohannad's friends called to say protesters were being attacked, including girls.
They asked him to come, because there's safety in numbers.
He went at 2am and we kept in touch by phone.
His brother was on Facebook, and I was sat next to him looking,
and suddenly we read that he was dead.
Mohannad Samir, the martyr.
I went to Tahrir
it looked like a morgue, with blood everywhere.
It was terrifying.
I asked them, "Where are... the people this blood came from?"
They said, "At the field hospital."
I found Mohannad there, his leg bandaged to stop the bleeding
I said, "What's happened, son?!"
He said he'd been shot in the leg.
He said, "My friend Rami got shot too... He was right next to me, where is he?"
He was right next to Mohannad, just half a metre away.
This is our dear Rami, may he rest in peace.
And this is Mohannad. Rami ran to help him, and was killed.
Mohannad had a 3-hour operation.
The doctors removed the bullet - a live bullet.
They asked witnesses why were they protesting, and who cornered them and shot at them.
Mohannad said they'd come to help their friends who were being attacked
and the army surrounded them in the middle of the square, and shot at them.
The officer asked how he could be sure it was an army officer who shot at them.
Mohannad said, "I saw him right up close, he shot at us at point blank range."
The officer asked if Mohannad could identify the man from a picture.
Mohannad said "Yes, definitely"
The man said, "There are people who wear army uniforms and hide among the protesters."
"They're thugs and troublemakers - you should help us find them"
He said once Mohannad recovered we should come to pick out the shooters' pictures at the police station.
He said it could help them find the criminal.
That same officer Kareem Ezz al-Deen, who'd been hassling me every day at the hospital, kept calling me.
He would say, "Hello ma'am, how are you? We'd really like to see Mohannad."
I forgot to say - at the hospital we made a police statement against SCAF and the army.
Anyway, this officer Kareem kept calling asking us to come.
Finally I got fed up and said to Mohannad, "Let's just go."
I called John, a young lawyer who'd witnessed the army attack on the cabinet building sit-in.
John told me they'd go to the Cairo Security Directorate, with the inspector.
where they'd view the pictures on a large screen.
I was worried but John said it would be fine.
He said, "Don't be silly love, Mohannad was the victim, not the criminal."
"It's to help them find the perpetrator, that's all."
Suddenly, at 11.45pm that night, John called.
He said "Come and help! They've taken Mohannad!"
The officer at the Security Directorate said to John, "Don't bother, kid. People who come in here never get out."
And sure enough, that was the last time I saw my son.
I ran out of the house like a madman.
I went straight there with my brother - by then it was 1am.
I asked to see Ahmad Bakri, officer they'd been talking to.
He was incredibly rude.
He said "Mohannad who? What are you going on about, mama?"
By the end I was screaming at him that my son was wounded and needed his medicine.
He just said, "Get lost, your son can go to hell!" and threw me out.
I left, crying and screaming.
I didn't know who to turn to. Instead of protecting us, they kidnap us!
For a week I heard nothing from Mohannad. I went everywhere, trying to get help.
Midweek, Mohannad called asking for help, saying he was in an underground prison in an area called New Cairo.
We found out he'd been charged with setting fire to the Institut d'Égypte, assaulting security forces...
...burning a Central Security vehicle, damaging property...
I called for help on TV and in the papers, saying my son was wounded and sick, he's only in high school,
and that his doctor had warned he was at risk of having a stroke.
After 8 days I got permission to visit Mohannad.
I could barely recognise him.
I kept pressuring the authorities and got them to have him seen by a doctor at the hospital.
Bless them, it was the only decent thing they did.
They finally took him to Qasr el-Einy hospital. By then, his condition had deteriorated badly.
He had a stroke and they didn't tell me - even though I had warned them it would happen.
Mohannad is now in the prison hospital.
A month ago, he had an internal hemorrhage.
May God have him released safely...
May God help him and heal him...
He'll sit his high school graduation exams there - and I know he'll do well, God willing.