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 Testimonies on the killing of Sudanese Refugees
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Testimonies on the killing of Sudanese Refugees
Testimony 11
A journey with the dead: A Sudanese testimony to El Nadim Center
:Ihab says
They stepped over everything that moved. They squashed it. Women, children, it did not matter. We had no chance to negotiate. The water cannons started a short while after the warning. We wanted to know where we are going. We asked for somebody from UNHCR. At once the attack started. Beating from all sides. The area we were in was very crowded. They squeezed us and attacked us from all sides. The children were on the ground. We tried to lift them, but they would beat us AND the children. Many died. Whoever got injured or exhausted was dragged to the bus. He would be beaten all the way to the bus. They beat me in my eye and was bleeding from my nose. Every time I try to hold a child they would beat him. A child was beaten while I carried him and that is why I broke my fingers.
I fell to the ground. I was holding a child. I was almost dead. They dragged me like a dog. When I regained consciousness my hands were tied. They hit me with an electric stick. I lost consciousness again. When I awoke I looked right and left. I heard people talking. I opened my eyes but could not see properly. My eyes were covered with blood. Then I realized that I was surrounded with my Sudanese colleagues. Except they were dead. I found myself in the morgue. Me and the dead alike. I tried to raise my head but couldn’t. There were two doctors saying those are dead people. Then somebody said: what shall we do? One of them is alive. Another voice said: kill him too. Another came towards me with a syringe in his hand. Then a Sudanese visitor entered the morgue. The doctor with the syringe removed the syringe and stood aside. I waved to the visitor. He came. I told him help me to my feet. When I stood up I saw children, women and children dead all around me. The visitor cried and left.
They took me and put me in the waiting room. Then thy put me on a trolley and took me upstairs. The ward was full of officers and guards. They recorded our names. There were five children. Two of them were covered in a blanket and the others were carrying them on their shoulders. When I saw them I stood up. Despite the pain I carried them and put them on a bed. They were somewhere between life and death. Their ages ranged approximately between 1 and 4 years.
My heart ached. I told them: why are we staying here. There is no treatment and they want to give us injections to kill us. I told them not to eat anything if they brought us food. We refused to eat. I went to the upper floor to look at the second ward. I told them we don’t want to stay here. Take us away. They took us out of the ward into a bus and we went to the police station. It was the Dokki police station. We recorded the children in our names. We had taken the five children with us. The cell was very small. We were about 20 and unable to sit, while we carried the children. We were all injured. They handcuffed us; all four together. There were women too. We went to a far away camp after 6 October. They took us out of the bus and divided us and registered us in the camp. It was about 4.30. they treated us cruelly as if we were criminals of war. Even the bathroom, we had to go accompanied by guards. They brought us food but left us without treatment.
When we left the camp, they dropped us on the streets. Every 10 km they would drop five people: injured, naked, penniless. Even on our way out of the bus they would beat us. We had to walk to where we sought to spend the night.
I spent three days in Sanabel hospital without treatment. I was beaten up. My body hurt all over. My eye and leg were injured and two of my fingers were broken and bruised. I spent five days not able to breathe properly from the severe chest pain. Three days I spent in that hospital and on the third day I could not take it any more. When I told them I want to leave hospital they brought me a doctor from Caritas. He x-rayed my hand and put it in plaster. My chest x-ray was OK. But I had some muscle tears.
Note: The names in those testimonies are not the real names. We shall not disclose the real names except to a serious and transparent investigation in the Mostafa Mahmoud massacre.
Testimony (10)
Sudanese Testimonies to El Nadim Center: Can’t get the images out of my mind
Yehia El Hakim is 33 years old. He graduated from university with a degree in international relations.
He says:
The images continue like a film in front of my eyes. I cannot concentrate in anything. I don’t want to talk. I don’t feel like eating. I cannot believe what happened. I lived through a civil war in my country in Darfour. But nothing like this. They lied to us. They bluffed us. People were beaten. People were bleeding. Children were dying. I could not believe my eyes. I felt that this was unreal, that it was not happening. Those images are imprinted in my mind and I cannot get rid of them.
On that day my friend was with me at home. He was changing his clothes. He told me he will go visit the protesters. I went ahead. Then he disappeared. I never saw him again. His mother is in a very bad state. His body was not found. They have not announced all the places yet where the bodies are kept. Many died. Not only in the garden, but also in the ambulance cars and the hospitals after they were taken there.
If they want to remove the camp why did they open the way for the Sudanese to enter.
I feel like suffocating when I try to sleep. I feel that somebody is running after me. I wake up many times at night. I dream of those things that happened all the time. They tell me that I speak in my sleep.
I think a lot about all the people I knew. I know nothing about their whereabouts now. I don’t know if they are dead or alive. I saw a woman in Tora. She was unable to walk. She was crying. The next day her name was among the list of the dead they put up in the church. She died. She spent only day in those camps. Next morning she had a headache and was taken to hospital. There they found she had a brain hemorrhage. She died.
Note: The names in those testimonies are not the real names. We shall not disclose the real names except to a serious and transparent investigation in the Mostafa Mahmoud massacre.
Testimony (9)
Sudanese Testimonies to El Nadim Center: Every time I ask they tell me to check your name on the board!
Mostafa Ali is from the north of Sudan, Om Dorman. He is 48 years old. He worked in trade and had his own shop.
He says:
I don’t know what to say. I don’t know why I am here. This is unforgivable. Those protesters represented all sectors of the Sudanese people.
I have been resettled in the States since 2000. Yet, my file never found its way to IOM. Until today. Every time I asked they would tell me: look for your name on the board. We publish the names every Thursday. If you do not find your name, submit an appeal. I went dozens of times and submitted dozens of appeals and did not receive one reply.
How can they talk of local integration if we have no place to live. We are not allowed to work. There are no work opportunities in the first place. We cannot even secure the food. IU have 7 children. I try to educate some of them in cheap private school because we are not allowed to put our children in public schools. Sometimes I receive irregular aid from Caritas. This stopped totally since June 2004. They said we have no money. I decided to join the protest. Maybe this would help.
Why did he leave Sudan?
The conflict with the Sudanese government began after I was nominated for the local council in one of the district of Om Dorman. The government cancelled my name because I do not belong to the ruling party. The local population gathered in protest and they clashed with the police and an officer was injured. They detained me for 6 months with no trial in Om Dorman prison. For the first two weeks I suffered all forms of torture, beating, stabbing, pulling out of my nails, drowning in cold water in winter (I don’t like to remember those things because I had hope). I cam out of prison and found that I was prohibited from leaving the country and persecuted by the police and had to submit to daily surveillance. I decided to flee to Cairo to be able to forget. I came to Egypt. My friends helped me with money. I arrived in Cairo in August 1992.
Note: The names in those testimonies are not the real names. We shall not disclose the real names except to a serious and transparent investigation in the Mostafa Mahmoud massacre.
Testimoney (
Sudanese Testimonies to El Nadim Center: Injured bodies or corpses!
Nour El Edrisi, carries a blue card, was given local settlement. He finished his university studies and could not receive his graduation certificate because he did not do his military service!
He says:
I was supporting the protesters. On that day I was in the camp. There were many security forces in the area. We were worried. But the Egyptian women in the nearby garden (who sold us tea and food throughout the sit in) told us there is going to be a demonstration by the Islamists and they advised us to stay inside the camp and take refuge therein. The same thing was repeated by many sources. Our friends outside the camp told us that the streets surrounding the camp are being blocked by security forces.
At about 11 p.m. we saw about 30 or 40 men wearing white, short gowns. Many of them were bearded. They stood in two lines facing the mosque. The police cars and trucks kept coming and the soldiers started to surround the camp. At first their backs were towards us separating us from the “Brotherhood”. After a while they turned towards us. All the time Sudanese were allowed into the camp after being searched and their papers taken away from them.
An officer started talking to us through a microphone: You know that we are here to remove this camp. We have prepared camps for you with all means of comfort.
We sent a delegation to negotiate with the officer. The delegation agreed to move to the “prepared” camp provided 5 or 6 of us first go to see the place. The officers refused. All the time we were trying to get in touch with UNHCR staff. But none answered our calls. We decided we shall stay until they take us away.
At two or three they opened the way for two fire brigade cars, one from the left, another from the right. They started the water cannons. Water to us is a natural thing, especially those coming from the South where it rains heavily throughout the year. They laughed. We asked them not to be provocative. After the second shot of water cannons someone came from the southerners and tried to negotiate with both parties and failed.
Until this moment we did not anticipate the violence to come. We even sat down and food was distributed to the protesters.
The soldiers started shouting. Our women cheered indicating that they are not afraid. We had hope that is soon will be dawn and we shall be safe again.
At 5 a.m. water cannons were shot again. Everybody covered themselves either with a blanket or a plastic cover. This time the water was finished. I pulled the cover off my head. I could not see but kicking and beating from all sides. Wherever one turned there was beating. I don’t know when and how the soldiers were all over the place inside the camp, all over.
We had a disabled woman among us. Her name was Naglaa. She said: Go and leave me. We covered her with a plastic sheet while she was sitting on the floor. They beat her up brutally until an officer recognized that she was a woman. They carried her outside.
Some of us escaped to the trees. The trees would break and we would fall on top of each other. This may be how many children died. They beat directly on the head. I saw a man fall on the ground, holding a child. He lifted the child up and threw him up hoping that someone might catch him. Nobody was there to catch him and he was stepped over.
Most of us were dizzy. Maybe the water had something in it. Maybe they sprayed us with something. Maybe it was the brutal beating. The screaming was everywhere.
There was no way out but to be carried or taken by the police. Whoever falls was carried by 3 or 4 soldiers, who would hand him over to other soldiers outside the camp and then come back to take others. Soldiers outside continued the beating until they reached the buses. In the bus, too, there were soldiers. All the time they were insulting and humiliating us. In the bus there were people breathing heavily and women calling for their children and there were many injured. Ambulance cars were nearby but they did not care. Why? We did not know who among us was dead and who was only injured.
They took us to the central security camp in Tora. We lay on the dusty ground. Our clothes were wet. We were outside the wards. It was then that we realized what camp was “prepared” for us. They started classifying us and record our names. Then ambulance cars appeared. The very severely injured were taken away. We don’t know where. The remainder received superficial first aid. Drinking water was scarce. The treatment was cruel and we are all bruised.
Nour was very tired while giving his testimony. His eyes were tearful throughout. His voice was low and sad and confused. I suggested that he stop to drink something. He refused. He started talking about other colleagues who are in desperate need of him and medical help. He left promising to bring his colleagues to the clinic.
Note: The names in those testimonies are not the real names. We shall not disclose the real names except to a serious and transparent investigation in the Mostafa Mahmoud massacre.
Testimoney (7)
Sudanese Testimonies to El Nadim: Someone hanged himself in the toilet
Abdel Halim Omar is 33 years old. He arrived in Egypt on the 16th of June 2005. He has a file at UNHCR. He was discharged from Shebin el Kom prison on the 5th of January 2006.
He says:
We were sitting by the entrance of the garden. A state security official cam towards us dressed n civil clothes. He said the Moslem Brotherhood is organizing a demonstration and the police is here to protect us. We were confident that the police will protect us. I saw the police draw near. An officer spoke to us through a microphone.
I and a colleague were negotiating with a police general. He said we shall take you to a camp. We asked, where? He said, you do not have to know. I said, we shall send a delegation with you to see the camp. He refused and warned us that in five minutes they will attack.
After 5 minutes they hit us with hot water and then with cold water cannons.
They asked us again to disperse although the garden was surrounded by police from all sides. Then the beating began from everywhere. I was holding my wife’s hands. I was very scared something might happen to her. I fell from the excessive beating. They stepped over me and I lost consciousness. I did not wake up except in the hospital. When I regained consciousness I found a drip in my arm. There was a swelling in my head and I felt severe pain in my legs. I thought I had broken my legs. The ward had about 20 Sudanese people and we had guards in plain clothes who accompanied us everywhere even in the toilet. When I asked if we were under arrest, they told me: you are with Ayman Nour.
Our clothes were wet and we had no shoes on. The treatment was very bad in the first day. The second day there was a nurse who covered us with blankets and who cried about our condition.
They took us to identify the bodies in another ward. It was a horrible scene. Two or three bodies were put one on top of the other on a trolley. I identified a small child, whose name I do not know. His father fell to the ground. But before falling he threw the boy in the air so that somebody might pick him up but nobody did. The child fell to the ground and the soldiers stepped on him (The father is still in Shebin el Kom prison).
They transferred us in their trucks and took us to Tora. We were about 20. I think it was Saturday. In Tora I found my wife. There were no rooms. We slept in front of the wards. Each had only one blanket. The divided us Those who carried a yellow card from those who have a blue card from those who do not carry anything, like myself. I did not have my passport. Then they put us on buses again. I refused and wanted to be with my wife. She has a valid residence. The officer took my aside and told me that women are in one bus, men are in another and that what I request is not decent and that I shall see her later.
We looked out of the window and realized that we were entering shebin el kom prison. The bus stopped by the prison gate and there were two lines of soldiers surrounding us. They made us sit in lines, counted us and then we had to walk in lines. They gave us clothes. On them was written “investigation”. I objected. The officer told me: you are our guests. We put the clothes on. They took photos of each of us while carrying a sign with our name. They put each 25 of us in a small room with one small window high in the wall. The rooms overlooked the prison buildings. In the corner there was a bucket.
A little while after we arrived a colleague of ours screamed: somebody hanged himself in the toilet. We thought he was making a bad joke and panicked when we realized he was serious. We banged on the door. A warden came, took a lot and was followed by many officers and eventually a general. They took us out of the room, took the finger prints and took the body away. He was a southerner, I don’t remember his name. He hanged himself by a rope that was tying the blanket. They returned us to the same room. I could not sleep. Nor could I drink from the water in the bathroom where our colleague had committed suicide.
I protested the quality of the food. They changed it and brought us rice with some red sauce. I was worried about my wife. I lied to the officer and told him that my son is locked up in an apartment on his own. They checked with my wife. She was in the barrages prison. When they discovered I was lying they filed a complaint against me but the warden told me not to worry. They will take care of it.
On the third day in prison they told us to gather in groups of tens. They gave each of us a booklet, titled “ID”. In each there was a name and a photo. They took me to an office where I found other Sudanese people from the Sudanese embassy. They had a badge on their jacket. They were very provocative. I became tense and was aggressive towards one of them. The called the guards to take me away.
Ahmed Bek (officer) took me to a place on my own. He brought me coffee and cigarettes and told me you can do what you want. If you want to talk to them then talk to them; if you don’t, it is OK. A while later the Sudanese from the embassy came and said: we want this one. And he pointed at me. I told him, you want to take me to Sudan to torture me again. He said: I am talking with Ahmed Bek and not with you. Ahmed Bek took him away from me. When I returned to the room I learned that most of my colleagues had trouble dealing with the embassy people.
On the same day they chose 17 of us from different wards. The kept us for a while downstairs and nothing happened. Then we were returned to the wards. I expected trouble. I told my colleagues, we shall start a hunger strike starting Friday. On Thursday they released those 17 whom they had chosen before.
We were about 600 people in Shebin el Kom prison. Only 17 were released. Maybe because they carry the blue card, maybe because we made trouble with the embassy people and maybe because we were going to start a hunger strike.
Note: The names in those testimonies are not the real names. We shall not disclose the real names except to a serious and transparent investigation in the Mostafa Mahmoud massacre.
Testimoney (5)
How the police bluffed the refugees
Since Thursday evening military and police forces gathered in big numbers around the place. Then there was a long line of private cars. However, those inside those cares behaved in a military fashion. We asked: is all this because of us, so that we might spare the children and the elderly? They said: No. we are here because there will be a demonstration of the Moslem brotherhood and we are here to disburse them. A little time later 50 men, in robes and many of them bearded, appeared in front of the mosque and remained there for an hour. Nothing was happening. We asked the police again. They said they plan a demo and we are here to protect you so that you do not get involved in their demo. This game lasted for about an hour, from 10 until 11 p.m.
At 11 or 12 the police surrounded the whole camp. After 5 minutes they brought the busses and parked them in front of us. One of the officials said you have 5 minutes to empty the camp and enter into the busses or else we shall use violence. One of the negotiating committee said: we are ready to come out of the camp but will not enter into the busses except in the presence of somebody from UNHCR.
The police refused.
They started the water cannons. First hot then very cold water. The water was very strong. It was first pointing upwards then directly at us.. the water was strange.. as if it had some chemicals in them.. we had not planned to resist.. people were eating and we have a tape of the hour of the attack.. when they started to shoot us with those water cannons we did not reply with glass as they say. This is not true.
Those dressed in civil clothes went up into the building on top of the bank and the mosque and threw beer and coca cola bottles at us and the glass broke on top of our #########. In the camp it was forbidden to use glass. Anybody who broke the rules was punished. Nobody drunk was allowed into the camp. Also people were searched before they returned to the camp. Even those who drink buy their booze in plastic bags. We cannot afford Stella beer. If we had the money we would rather buy food.
The water stopped for a while. We covered the children and babies with blankets. There were six rows of police.
They attacked us from all sides. We fell on top of each other like in a trop. We were three thousand in a very small area and the beating and kicking came from all sides, brutally and viciously. Suddenly you would find someone drop next to you, not moving, not speaking. We would hear a dull sound and then somebody would fall. I don’t know what they used in beating us, but the beating paralyzed us. One would receive a blow and be unable to move or speak. Then five or six police would come and drag him or her under punches and kicks towards the bus.
We reached the camp. It was already morning. We left the bus. There were two lines of antiriot police. We entered the camp. Only tents. Surrounding the camp was a wall and inside there are wards covered with cloth. They divided us into two groups. There was not enough space for everybody. We slept on the floor without any blankets or covers.
They brought us breakfast and recorded our names. They gave simple first aid and some were transferred in an ambulance. After the food they called our names. Whoever had an ID or a card was put on a bus. It was prohibited that we return to the camp to fetch our clothes, or documents. We rode the bus, which kept driving around. They dropped us as individuals or in small groups in streets we never knew before. We had no shoes on. We had no money.”
Testimoney (4)
I was there and saw everything
Dear Friends
As you know I have been working with and for the Sudanese refugees living in Cairo. I was involved with the demonstration of 3,000 refugees, which has been taking place outside of UNHCR office in a makeshift camp where mostly women and children has been staying day and night for the past 3 months. They were demanding their rights from the UNHCR and asking for better treatment from the Egyptian government… I have to inform you of what happened at the camp site on Thursday night…I was there and saw everything….It was unbelievable….I have never witnessed anything like this before…we have 60 Sudanese refugees confirmed dead, …hundreds injured….everyone who were staying at the camp site, including women and children have been taken into prisons, around 3,000 refugees….so far they do not allow anyone into the prisons and I am very much concerned about their conditions…. The refugees called me around 11 at night and told me to go to the camp site right away….thousands of soldiers blocked all area, they started at 9pm…no one out no one in……..police wouldn’t let anyone in….I said I am from Canada and they did let me in….I went to the site area…they blocked it with thousands of soldiers….I was standing at the park facing the site….as close I can get….first they sprayed them with water canons….3 -4 times in that freezing night….I started screaming at officers to stop this….there are children….you will kill them….they laughed at me….than I saw from the left side thousands of soldiers getting ready to go in to the camp site….they went in….all you could see was black uniforms, their arms coming down and up….had sticks…they beat everyone, children, women…. everyone…. the Sudanese refugees did not have any weapons and they did not fight….then one by one, pulling, pushing, kicking, forced people into buses…..i was standing right there…..they are taking them one by one, right in front of my eyes…..women, children blood flowing from their #########….i was screaming, crying, trying to stop them….they treated them like animals….i saw 2 dead bodies lying on the ground….i went and touched them…to see if they were alive…no…i cannot describe you what i have seen….it was inhuman….it was unbelievable….they took everyone from the site…last person dragged around 6 am…..they had wet clothes…no shoes….most didn’t even have some of their clothes on….all their belongings left behind….i was shaking……..they have been taken to 7 different prisons….they distributed them into 7 different prisons…3 hospitals….we went to the hospitals to see the injured and they told us there were no Sudanese refugees there…only showed us 3 bodies……I received info from one Sudanese at one of the military recruitment center (one of the prisons they are being kept) that they are being treated badly….still have their wet clothes on….the injured has not been taken care of…no food so far….no toilet facilities….and the worst of all we hear they will be deported back to Sudan. I am very concerned….because in front of the media the authorities treated them so bad, I don’t know what they are doing to them in behind closed doors…children, women all in prisons….UNHCR is the one who asked the government of Egypt to end the protest. I am sure they know how the Egyptian police is here and I am sure they knew it wouldn’t be a peaceful affair. I don’t know if UNHCR is going to do anything for the Sudanese refugees that are in prison…Please do what you can to get this news out…or anything we can do to help them… Do any of you have any contacts with Amnesty International or Human Rights Watch or any other organization? Our aim is to get everyone out of prisons and to prevent the Egyptian government to deport them back to Sudan.
A journey with the dead: A Sudanese testimony to El Nadim Center
:Ihab says
They stepped over everything that moved. They squashed it. Women, children, it did not matter. We had no chance to negotiate. The water cannons started a short while after the warning. We wanted to know where we are going. We asked for somebody from UNHCR. At once the attack started. Beating from all sides. The area we were in was very crowded. They squeezed us and attacked us from all sides. The children were on the ground. We tried to lift them, but they would beat us AND the children. Many died. Whoever got injured or exhausted was dragged to the bus. He would be beaten all the way to the bus. They beat me in my eye and was bleeding from my nose. Every time I try to hold a child they would beat him. A child was beaten while I carried him and that is why I broke my fingers.
I fell to the ground. I was holding a child. I was almost dead. They dragged me like a dog. When I regained consciousness my hands were tied. They hit me with an electric stick. I lost consciousness again. When I awoke I looked right and left. I heard people talking. I opened my eyes but could not see properly. My eyes were covered with blood. Then I realized that I was surrounded with my Sudanese colleagues. Except they were dead. I found myself in the morgue. Me and the dead alike. I tried to raise my head but couldn’t. There were two doctors saying those are dead people. Then somebody said: what shall we do? One of them is alive. Another voice said: kill him too. Another came towards me with a syringe in his hand. Then a Sudanese visitor entered the morgue. The doctor with the syringe removed the syringe and stood aside. I waved to the visitor. He came. I told him help me to my feet. When I stood up I saw children, women and children dead all around me. The visitor cried and left.
They took me and put me in the waiting room. Then thy put me on a trolley and took me upstairs. The ward was full of officers and guards. They recorded our names. There were five children. Two of them were covered in a blanket and the others were carrying them on their shoulders. When I saw them I stood up. Despite the pain I carried them and put them on a bed. They were somewhere between life and death. Their ages ranged approximately between 1 and 4 years.
My heart ached. I told them: why are we staying here. There is no treatment and they want to give us injections to kill us. I told them not to eat anything if they brought us food. We refused to eat. I went to the upper floor to look at the second ward. I told them we don’t want to stay here. Take us away. They took us out of the ward into a bus and we went to the police station. It was the Dokki police station. We recorded the children in our names. We had taken the five children with us. The cell was very small. We were about 20 and unable to sit, while we carried the children. We were all injured. They handcuffed us; all four together. There were women too. We went to a far away camp after 6 October. They took us out of the bus and divided us and registered us in the camp. It was about 4.30. they treated us cruelly as if we were criminals of war. Even the bathroom, we had to go accompanied by guards. They brought us food but left us without treatment.
When we left the camp, they dropped us on the streets. Every 10 km they would drop five people: injured, naked, penniless. Even on our way out of the bus they would beat us. We had to walk to where we sought to spend the night.
I spent three days in Sanabel hospital without treatment. I was beaten up. My body hurt all over. My eye and leg were injured and two of my fingers were broken and bruised. I spent five days not able to breathe properly from the severe chest pain. Three days I spent in that hospital and on the third day I could not take it any more. When I told them I want to leave hospital they brought me a doctor from Caritas. He x-rayed my hand and put it in plaster. My chest x-ray was OK. But I had some muscle tears.
Note: The names in those testimonies are not the real names. We shall not disclose the real names except to a serious and transparent investigation in the Mostafa Mahmoud massacre.
Testimony (10)
Sudanese Testimonies to El Nadim Center: Can’t get the images out of my mind
Yehia El Hakim is 33 years old. He graduated from university with a degree in international relations.
He says:
The images continue like a film in front of my eyes. I cannot concentrate in anything. I don’t want to talk. I don’t feel like eating. I cannot believe what happened. I lived through a civil war in my country in Darfour. But nothing like this. They lied to us. They bluffed us. People were beaten. People were bleeding. Children were dying. I could not believe my eyes. I felt that this was unreal, that it was not happening. Those images are imprinted in my mind and I cannot get rid of them.
On that day my friend was with me at home. He was changing his clothes. He told me he will go visit the protesters. I went ahead. Then he disappeared. I never saw him again. His mother is in a very bad state. His body was not found. They have not announced all the places yet where the bodies are kept. Many died. Not only in the garden, but also in the ambulance cars and the hospitals after they were taken there.
If they want to remove the camp why did they open the way for the Sudanese to enter.
I feel like suffocating when I try to sleep. I feel that somebody is running after me. I wake up many times at night. I dream of those things that happened all the time. They tell me that I speak in my sleep.
I think a lot about all the people I knew. I know nothing about their whereabouts now. I don’t know if they are dead or alive. I saw a woman in Tora. She was unable to walk. She was crying. The next day her name was among the list of the dead they put up in the church. She died. She spent only day in those camps. Next morning she had a headache and was taken to hospital. There they found she had a brain hemorrhage. She died.
Note: The names in those testimonies are not the real names. We shall not disclose the real names except to a serious and transparent investigation in the Mostafa Mahmoud massacre.
Testimony (9)
Sudanese Testimonies to El Nadim Center: Every time I ask they tell me to check your name on the board!
Mostafa Ali is from the north of Sudan, Om Dorman. He is 48 years old. He worked in trade and had his own shop.
He says:
I don’t know what to say. I don’t know why I am here. This is unforgivable. Those protesters represented all sectors of the Sudanese people.
I have been resettled in the States since 2000. Yet, my file never found its way to IOM. Until today. Every time I asked they would tell me: look for your name on the board. We publish the names every Thursday. If you do not find your name, submit an appeal. I went dozens of times and submitted dozens of appeals and did not receive one reply.
How can they talk of local integration if we have no place to live. We are not allowed to work. There are no work opportunities in the first place. We cannot even secure the food. IU have 7 children. I try to educate some of them in cheap private school because we are not allowed to put our children in public schools. Sometimes I receive irregular aid from Caritas. This stopped totally since June 2004. They said we have no money. I decided to join the protest. Maybe this would help.
Why did he leave Sudan?
The conflict with the Sudanese government began after I was nominated for the local council in one of the district of Om Dorman. The government cancelled my name because I do not belong to the ruling party. The local population gathered in protest and they clashed with the police and an officer was injured. They detained me for 6 months with no trial in Om Dorman prison. For the first two weeks I suffered all forms of torture, beating, stabbing, pulling out of my nails, drowning in cold water in winter (I don’t like to remember those things because I had hope). I cam out of prison and found that I was prohibited from leaving the country and persecuted by the police and had to submit to daily surveillance. I decided to flee to Cairo to be able to forget. I came to Egypt. My friends helped me with money. I arrived in Cairo in August 1992.
Note: The names in those testimonies are not the real names. We shall not disclose the real names except to a serious and transparent investigation in the Mostafa Mahmoud massacre.
Testimoney (
Sudanese Testimonies to El Nadim Center: Injured bodies or corpses!
Nour El Edrisi, carries a blue card, was given local settlement. He finished his university studies and could not receive his graduation certificate because he did not do his military service!
He says:
I was supporting the protesters. On that day I was in the camp. There were many security forces in the area. We were worried. But the Egyptian women in the nearby garden (who sold us tea and food throughout the sit in) told us there is going to be a demonstration by the Islamists and they advised us to stay inside the camp and take refuge therein. The same thing was repeated by many sources. Our friends outside the camp told us that the streets surrounding the camp are being blocked by security forces.
At about 11 p.m. we saw about 30 or 40 men wearing white, short gowns. Many of them were bearded. They stood in two lines facing the mosque. The police cars and trucks kept coming and the soldiers started to surround the camp. At first their backs were towards us separating us from the “Brotherhood”. After a while they turned towards us. All the time Sudanese were allowed into the camp after being searched and their papers taken away from them.
An officer started talking to us through a microphone: You know that we are here to remove this camp. We have prepared camps for you with all means of comfort.
We sent a delegation to negotiate with the officer. The delegation agreed to move to the “prepared” camp provided 5 or 6 of us first go to see the place. The officers refused. All the time we were trying to get in touch with UNHCR staff. But none answered our calls. We decided we shall stay until they take us away.
At two or three they opened the way for two fire brigade cars, one from the left, another from the right. They started the water cannons. Water to us is a natural thing, especially those coming from the South where it rains heavily throughout the year. They laughed. We asked them not to be provocative. After the second shot of water cannons someone came from the southerners and tried to negotiate with both parties and failed.
Until this moment we did not anticipate the violence to come. We even sat down and food was distributed to the protesters.
The soldiers started shouting. Our women cheered indicating that they are not afraid. We had hope that is soon will be dawn and we shall be safe again.
At 5 a.m. water cannons were shot again. Everybody covered themselves either with a blanket or a plastic cover. This time the water was finished. I pulled the cover off my head. I could not see but kicking and beating from all sides. Wherever one turned there was beating. I don’t know when and how the soldiers were all over the place inside the camp, all over.
We had a disabled woman among us. Her name was Naglaa. She said: Go and leave me. We covered her with a plastic sheet while she was sitting on the floor. They beat her up brutally until an officer recognized that she was a woman. They carried her outside.
Some of us escaped to the trees. The trees would break and we would fall on top of each other. This may be how many children died. They beat directly on the head. I saw a man fall on the ground, holding a child. He lifted the child up and threw him up hoping that someone might catch him. Nobody was there to catch him and he was stepped over.
Most of us were dizzy. Maybe the water had something in it. Maybe they sprayed us with something. Maybe it was the brutal beating. The screaming was everywhere.
There was no way out but to be carried or taken by the police. Whoever falls was carried by 3 or 4 soldiers, who would hand him over to other soldiers outside the camp and then come back to take others. Soldiers outside continued the beating until they reached the buses. In the bus, too, there were soldiers. All the time they were insulting and humiliating us. In the bus there were people breathing heavily and women calling for their children and there were many injured. Ambulance cars were nearby but they did not care. Why? We did not know who among us was dead and who was only injured.
They took us to the central security camp in Tora. We lay on the dusty ground. Our clothes were wet. We were outside the wards. It was then that we realized what camp was “prepared” for us. They started classifying us and record our names. Then ambulance cars appeared. The very severely injured were taken away. We don’t know where. The remainder received superficial first aid. Drinking water was scarce. The treatment was cruel and we are all bruised.
Nour was very tired while giving his testimony. His eyes were tearful throughout. His voice was low and sad and confused. I suggested that he stop to drink something. He refused. He started talking about other colleagues who are in desperate need of him and medical help. He left promising to bring his colleagues to the clinic.
Note: The names in those testimonies are not the real names. We shall not disclose the real names except to a serious and transparent investigation in the Mostafa Mahmoud massacre.
Testimoney (7)
Sudanese Testimonies to El Nadim: Someone hanged himself in the toilet
Abdel Halim Omar is 33 years old. He arrived in Egypt on the 16th of June 2005. He has a file at UNHCR. He was discharged from Shebin el Kom prison on the 5th of January 2006.
He says:
We were sitting by the entrance of the garden. A state security official cam towards us dressed n civil clothes. He said the Moslem Brotherhood is organizing a demonstration and the police is here to protect us. We were confident that the police will protect us. I saw the police draw near. An officer spoke to us through a microphone.
I and a colleague were negotiating with a police general. He said we shall take you to a camp. We asked, where? He said, you do not have to know. I said, we shall send a delegation with you to see the camp. He refused and warned us that in five minutes they will attack.
After 5 minutes they hit us with hot water and then with cold water cannons.
They asked us again to disperse although the garden was surrounded by police from all sides. Then the beating began from everywhere. I was holding my wife’s hands. I was very scared something might happen to her. I fell from the excessive beating. They stepped over me and I lost consciousness. I did not wake up except in the hospital. When I regained consciousness I found a drip in my arm. There was a swelling in my head and I felt severe pain in my legs. I thought I had broken my legs. The ward had about 20 Sudanese people and we had guards in plain clothes who accompanied us everywhere even in the toilet. When I asked if we were under arrest, they told me: you are with Ayman Nour.
Our clothes were wet and we had no shoes on. The treatment was very bad in the first day. The second day there was a nurse who covered us with blankets and who cried about our condition.
They took us to identify the bodies in another ward. It was a horrible scene. Two or three bodies were put one on top of the other on a trolley. I identified a small child, whose name I do not know. His father fell to the ground. But before falling he threw the boy in the air so that somebody might pick him up but nobody did. The child fell to the ground and the soldiers stepped on him (The father is still in Shebin el Kom prison).
They transferred us in their trucks and took us to Tora. We were about 20. I think it was Saturday. In Tora I found my wife. There were no rooms. We slept in front of the wards. Each had only one blanket. The divided us Those who carried a yellow card from those who have a blue card from those who do not carry anything, like myself. I did not have my passport. Then they put us on buses again. I refused and wanted to be with my wife. She has a valid residence. The officer took my aside and told me that women are in one bus, men are in another and that what I request is not decent and that I shall see her later.
We looked out of the window and realized that we were entering shebin el kom prison. The bus stopped by the prison gate and there were two lines of soldiers surrounding us. They made us sit in lines, counted us and then we had to walk in lines. They gave us clothes. On them was written “investigation”. I objected. The officer told me: you are our guests. We put the clothes on. They took photos of each of us while carrying a sign with our name. They put each 25 of us in a small room with one small window high in the wall. The rooms overlooked the prison buildings. In the corner there was a bucket.
A little while after we arrived a colleague of ours screamed: somebody hanged himself in the toilet. We thought he was making a bad joke and panicked when we realized he was serious. We banged on the door. A warden came, took a lot and was followed by many officers and eventually a general. They took us out of the room, took the finger prints and took the body away. He was a southerner, I don’t remember his name. He hanged himself by a rope that was tying the blanket. They returned us to the same room. I could not sleep. Nor could I drink from the water in the bathroom where our colleague had committed suicide.
I protested the quality of the food. They changed it and brought us rice with some red sauce. I was worried about my wife. I lied to the officer and told him that my son is locked up in an apartment on his own. They checked with my wife. She was in the barrages prison. When they discovered I was lying they filed a complaint against me but the warden told me not to worry. They will take care of it.
On the third day in prison they told us to gather in groups of tens. They gave each of us a booklet, titled “ID”. In each there was a name and a photo. They took me to an office where I found other Sudanese people from the Sudanese embassy. They had a badge on their jacket. They were very provocative. I became tense and was aggressive towards one of them. The called the guards to take me away.
Ahmed Bek (officer) took me to a place on my own. He brought me coffee and cigarettes and told me you can do what you want. If you want to talk to them then talk to them; if you don’t, it is OK. A while later the Sudanese from the embassy came and said: we want this one. And he pointed at me. I told him, you want to take me to Sudan to torture me again. He said: I am talking with Ahmed Bek and not with you. Ahmed Bek took him away from me. When I returned to the room I learned that most of my colleagues had trouble dealing with the embassy people.
On the same day they chose 17 of us from different wards. The kept us for a while downstairs and nothing happened. Then we were returned to the wards. I expected trouble. I told my colleagues, we shall start a hunger strike starting Friday. On Thursday they released those 17 whom they had chosen before.
We were about 600 people in Shebin el Kom prison. Only 17 were released. Maybe because they carry the blue card, maybe because we made trouble with the embassy people and maybe because we were going to start a hunger strike.
Note: The names in those testimonies are not the real names. We shall not disclose the real names except to a serious and transparent investigation in the Mostafa Mahmoud massacre.
Testimoney (5)
How the police bluffed the refugees
Since Thursday evening military and police forces gathered in big numbers around the place. Then there was a long line of private cars. However, those inside those cares behaved in a military fashion. We asked: is all this because of us, so that we might spare the children and the elderly? They said: No. we are here because there will be a demonstration of the Moslem brotherhood and we are here to disburse them. A little time later 50 men, in robes and many of them bearded, appeared in front of the mosque and remained there for an hour. Nothing was happening. We asked the police again. They said they plan a demo and we are here to protect you so that you do not get involved in their demo. This game lasted for about an hour, from 10 until 11 p.m.
At 11 or 12 the police surrounded the whole camp. After 5 minutes they brought the busses and parked them in front of us. One of the officials said you have 5 minutes to empty the camp and enter into the busses or else we shall use violence. One of the negotiating committee said: we are ready to come out of the camp but will not enter into the busses except in the presence of somebody from UNHCR.
The police refused.
They started the water cannons. First hot then very cold water. The water was very strong. It was first pointing upwards then directly at us.. the water was strange.. as if it had some chemicals in them.. we had not planned to resist.. people were eating and we have a tape of the hour of the attack.. when they started to shoot us with those water cannons we did not reply with glass as they say. This is not true.
Those dressed in civil clothes went up into the building on top of the bank and the mosque and threw beer and coca cola bottles at us and the glass broke on top of our #########. In the camp it was forbidden to use glass. Anybody who broke the rules was punished. Nobody drunk was allowed into the camp. Also people were searched before they returned to the camp. Even those who drink buy their booze in plastic bags. We cannot afford Stella beer. If we had the money we would rather buy food.
The water stopped for a while. We covered the children and babies with blankets. There were six rows of police.
They attacked us from all sides. We fell on top of each other like in a trop. We were three thousand in a very small area and the beating and kicking came from all sides, brutally and viciously. Suddenly you would find someone drop next to you, not moving, not speaking. We would hear a dull sound and then somebody would fall. I don’t know what they used in beating us, but the beating paralyzed us. One would receive a blow and be unable to move or speak. Then five or six police would come and drag him or her under punches and kicks towards the bus.
We reached the camp. It was already morning. We left the bus. There were two lines of antiriot police. We entered the camp. Only tents. Surrounding the camp was a wall and inside there are wards covered with cloth. They divided us into two groups. There was not enough space for everybody. We slept on the floor without any blankets or covers.
They brought us breakfast and recorded our names. They gave simple first aid and some were transferred in an ambulance. After the food they called our names. Whoever had an ID or a card was put on a bus. It was prohibited that we return to the camp to fetch our clothes, or documents. We rode the bus, which kept driving around. They dropped us as individuals or in small groups in streets we never knew before. We had no shoes on. We had no money.”
Testimoney (4)
I was there and saw everything
Dear Friends
As you know I have been working with and for the Sudanese refugees living in Cairo. I was involved with the demonstration of 3,000 refugees, which has been taking place outside of UNHCR office in a makeshift camp where mostly women and children has been staying day and night for the past 3 months. They were demanding their rights from the UNHCR and asking for better treatment from the Egyptian government… I have to inform you of what happened at the camp site on Thursday night…I was there and saw everything….It was unbelievable….I have never witnessed anything like this before…we have 60 Sudanese refugees confirmed dead, …hundreds injured….everyone who were staying at the camp site, including women and children have been taken into prisons, around 3,000 refugees….so far they do not allow anyone into the prisons and I am very much concerned about their conditions…. The refugees called me around 11 at night and told me to go to the camp site right away….thousands of soldiers blocked all area, they started at 9pm…no one out no one in……..police wouldn’t let anyone in….I said I am from Canada and they did let me in….I went to the site area…they blocked it with thousands of soldiers….I was standing at the park facing the site….as close I can get….first they sprayed them with water canons….3 -4 times in that freezing night….I started screaming at officers to stop this….there are children….you will kill them….they laughed at me….than I saw from the left side thousands of soldiers getting ready to go in to the camp site….they went in….all you could see was black uniforms, their arms coming down and up….had sticks…they beat everyone, children, women…. everyone…. the Sudanese refugees did not have any weapons and they did not fight….then one by one, pulling, pushing, kicking, forced people into buses…..i was standing right there…..they are taking them one by one, right in front of my eyes…..women, children blood flowing from their #########….i was screaming, crying, trying to stop them….they treated them like animals….i saw 2 dead bodies lying on the ground….i went and touched them…to see if they were alive…no…i cannot describe you what i have seen….it was inhuman….it was unbelievable….they took everyone from the site…last person dragged around 6 am…..they had wet clothes…no shoes….most didn’t even have some of their clothes on….all their belongings left behind….i was shaking……..they have been taken to 7 different prisons….they distributed them into 7 different prisons…3 hospitals….we went to the hospitals to see the injured and they told us there were no Sudanese refugees there…only showed us 3 bodies……I received info from one Sudanese at one of the military recruitment center (one of the prisons they are being kept) that they are being treated badly….still have their wet clothes on….the injured has not been taken care of…no food so far….no toilet facilities….and the worst of all we hear they will be deported back to Sudan. I am very concerned….because in front of the media the authorities treated them so bad, I don’t know what they are doing to them in behind closed doors…children, women all in prisons….UNHCR is the one who asked the government of Egypt to end the protest. I am sure they know how the Egyptian police is here and I am sure they knew it wouldn’t be a peaceful affair. I don’t know if UNHCR is going to do anything for the Sudanese refugees that are in prison…Please do what you can to get this news out…or anything we can do to help them… Do any of you have any contacts with Amnesty International or Human Rights Watch or any other organization? Our aim is to get everyone out of prisons and to prevent the Egyptian government to deport them back to Sudan.
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فيصل محمد خليل
فيس بوك
تويتر
انستقرام
يوتيوب
بنتيريست