Assault charges dismissed against NYC man who said he was beaten by Egyptian officials
New York – Prosecutors abandoned the accusations of assault against a demonstrator who said that he had been dragged by a street in Manhattan by officials of the Egyptian government, beaten and whipped with a metal chain, then wrongly arrested by New York police.
Yasin El Sammak, 22, and his 15-year-old brother had faced accusations of assault and strangulation following the altercation, which took place last month during a small pro-Palestinian demonstration in front of an Egyptian diplomatic building.
These charges against El Sammak were dismissed Wednesday by prosecutors of the Manhattan district prosecutor’s office, who said that the evidence had not supported the assertion of the police service that he was the attacker of the incident. The accusations of his younger brother were previously sealed before the family court.
“I am relieved that the truth has come out and my charges have been abandoned,” El Sammak told the Associated Press. “At the same time, I am deeply disappointed with the betrayal of the NYPD and the time that it took something so clear for everyone – my innocence – to make official.”
The video recordings taken by El Sammak and another activist on the scene seemed to support the account of the brothers that they were the victims rather than the authors of the attack.
Images have shown that officials of the Egyptian government have angry the pair on a sidewalk, then transporting them behind the glass doors of the building. Once inside, officials could be seen hitting the brothers and knocking them several times with a metal chain.
El Sammak said they also used his Keffiyeh – a Palestinian scarf – to suffocate him “to the point that I was smothered”, leaving him deep bruises around his neck.
The police arrived quickly to break the confrontation. But while the brothers were trying to explain what had happened, the NYPD officers “ignored us,” said El Sammak, taking into account the request of Egyptian officials to have them arrested.
The NYPD later said that it was El Sammak who used the chain on one of the civil servants, leaving it with “swelling and substantial pain in the hands”. El Sammak vehemently denied this allegation.
The ministry also initially refused to accept a police report from the lawyer for El Sammak, arguing that the accusations were outside their jurisdiction. They then accepted the report, but did not make any additional arrest.
One request by email to the permanent mission of Egypt to the United Nations, where the episode occurred, has not been returned.
Under international law, diplomatic officials receive the immunity from certain criminal proceedings. A police spokesman did not say if these protections took into account the decision not to charge Egyptian officials.
The rejection of accusations occurs a few days before the start of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
He follows a wave of demonstrations in Egyptian diplomatic buildings in Europe and elsewhere to demand that the country authorize humanitarian aid through the border crossing with the southern city of Gaza de Rafah. Egyptian officials have denied the blocking of aid and strongly condemned the demonstrations.
