Thursday, January 25, 2007

worry

The other day, I was a bit worried all day. In the morning, I got a text message from M in Egypt, saying:
"Sabah el asel habibi im now in police ofice i stil i dont know what can i do? Dont wory i will be okay"
It would have been 2 AM in Egypt, and he should have been at work, still (he normally works from 3 PM until sometimes 6 AM!!!). I tried phoning him then, but his phone was turned off. He had just sent the message!!! I phoning him several times during the day. He was then supposed to meet me on the Net that evening at 9:00 (2 PM in Egypt, an hour before he had to be at work). He didn't show up on the Net, and I could do nothing but wait...
A couple of days before, a man entered the cafe and started a bit of an arguement over prices. He said that he was Egyptian, so he didn't have to pay full price. M said no, everything was the same price, no matter where the customer was from. The man then said he was a police officer, and he didn't have to pay full price. After arguing a bit, the man demanded to talk to the manager, and then said he would be back.
I've been reading a lot of Egyptian blogs and such, and so I have been hearing a lot of bad things about the way that the police in Egypt work. Of course, I know that they aren't all bad (M's father was a police officer, as are two of his brothers), but the stories I am reading/hearing are VERY bad, and are increasing in number.
I got a text message from him a couple of hours after he was supposed to start working and phoned him right away. He had just gotten to work. Apparently, the man returned and I'm not exactly sure what happened, but M had to go to the police office. When he got there, they just told him to sit down. He sat down and sent me the text message. Then they saw he was using his phone and demanded that he give it to them. He said he had to phone his manager, as he was supposed to be at work. They told him that if he didn't give him the phone, they would break it. So there went his phone. That is why it was turned off so suddenly. After working for almost 12 hours, he sat in the police office for over 12 hours. They kept asking him all sorts of questions to do with why he was in Sharm, what he was doing, when he got his passport, etc... Then they let him go, an hour after he was supposed to start work. So he got no sleep, and then had to go back to work. He was able to go home to get a few hours of sleep, though.

4 comments:

Organica said...

They Bully people, because they can.

There is no law.

Today is "Police Day"..

My ass

Anonymous said...

Oh man! Scary! Ammar is going to Syria this week I think to pick up his police records and papers. I;m scared since they also have little to no law there.

laura said...

Organic,
I have heard that. Not good.
Julianna,
I hope that Ammar has no problems!!

Susan said...

Crooked pricks. Most police officers in Egypt seem to think that they are entitled to privledges, liked bribes and freebies. I hope that the fact M's family are police officers helped get him out. This is why it always pays to know someone.