An Interior Ministry officer ordered a detainee released by presidential pardon to bow down in front of cameras.
“Make sure we are not in the picture,” the officer was heard as saying.
Ordering the detainee into the submissive and humbling posture was apparently to force him to show extreme gratitude to government officials for his pardon.
Assistant Interior Minister for Media Affairs Abdel Kerim Abu Bakr said this behavior from the officials is “unacceptable” and will be investigated.
On Wednesday, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi pardoned 165 people, many of them juveniles held in prison for illegally protesting or other misdemeanors. It is not clear what charges this particular detainee had faced.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
