OU’s fall 2010 activist-in-residence said Egyptian police sexually assaulted, beat and blindfolded her after she was detained Thursday near Cairo’s Tahrir Square.
Mona Eltahawy was brought to OU’s campus last fall as part of the Center for Social Justice’s Activist-in-Residence program. She facilitated workshops and discussions on women’s rights, social networking and a better understanding of Islam during her stay.
Eltahawy said the detainment left her with a broken left arm and right hand.
“They hit me with their sticks on the arms and head. They sexually assaulted me, groping my breasts and putting their hands between my legs,” she said. “For a moment I said, ‘This is it. No one is around. I am finished.’”
Eltahawy said she struggled and shouted as her attackers dragged her by her hair from the street to the Interior Ministry.
Eltahawy, 44, lives in New York and is a prominent women’s rights defender, a lecturer on the role of social media in the Arab world and a former Reuters journalist. Eltahawy describes herself as a liberal Muslim who has spoken publicly in the U.S. and other countries against violent Islamic groups, particularly since Sept. 11.
Shayna Daitch, international security studies senior, attended Eltahawy’s workshops and has read her tweets and blogs. Daitch said she didn’t get any sleep after reading about the attack.
“[Eltahawy] is one of the strongest and courageous women I have met in my life,” Daitch said. “Her story is really inspiring.”
Eltahawy tweeted about her attack, and Daitch said she followed the whole event. If it weren’t for her status as a blogger and social network user, Eltahawy’s situation may have been worse, Daitch said.
Eltahawy’s tweets prompted a response from her followers that created the hashtag #FreeMona.The response from her followers and her status as an American citizen helped get her released, Daitch said.
“People contacted the embassy in Cairo,” Daitch said.
Eltahawy’s attack occurred after arriving in Egypt Wednesday evening.
Eltahawy said she was standing with a group of protesters in Tahrir Square snapping photos of the clashes and the crowd ducked when shots were fired. The group fled, but she was cornered by a half a dozen security officers.
She was held initially by uniformed regular riot police, who she said sexually abused and beat her.
Eltahawy said the police kept her in an office for hours before they took her to the military intelligence in a military van. The military police offered an apology and an investigation after they recorded her testimony.
The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Egyptian authorities to investigate the arrest and beating of Eltahawy.
The group said it documented 17 attacks on journalists on Sunday and Monday, at the height of the clashes near the square.
“What I experienced is just the tip of the iceberg of the brutality Egyptians experience everyday,” she said. “This is just the type of brutality that our revolution came about to fight.”
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
