Darren Bahey El-Din was arrested in front of the Fifth Settlement Court on March 30, 2014 when she went to check on her friend Karima Al-Serfi. She said ”When I was writing the numbers of lawyers who are dealing with my friend’s case, a security officer asked me and three of my friends for our IDs and the agenda I had in my hand. Although we didn’t have any cameras, he told us that we were attempting to photograph the police vehicles. He opened the agenda, yet, he only found the lawyers’ numbers. He asked us to wait. We were surprised when security forces surrounded us. He returned and searched our bags. However, he only found cards proving that we are students in Al Azhar University. He said “come with me for 3 minutes”. A general told us that we will be taken to New Cairo police station”. She was presented before the prosecution and charged with attempt to blow up the court, assault of an officer by beating, attempt to arson police vehicules, belonging to Muslim Brotherhood cadres at Al-Azhar University, and belonging to a terrorist group. The prosecution ordered her detention pending investigations. She was released on June 18, 2014. On September 11, 2014 the case was dismissed.
She was subjected to: humiliating search, approaching to sexual harassment upon her arrival to New Cairo station. – being placed in a small 1×1.5m cell in New Cairo station. The toilet did not have any curtains. Whoever enters can be exposed to anyone inside the toilet, in addition to the toilet door, which exposes the toilet to the outside by its opening. The toilet does not include a tap. Instead, it includes a pipe that supplies water for 24 hours. -Violations on the day of Al Qanatir massacre. She said “We were surprised when the central security soldiers and Commandos raided our toilet. They asked us to leave the bathroom. Although my colleague Fatima had a heart disease, they didn’t give me the chance to help her leave with us. One of them shouted at me saying, “Get out” and beat me despite my tiredness, and removed my Niqab, and then they made us all stand against the wall, and he started beating us on our backs. He even aggressively hit El Hagga Naima, the old lady. When he approached her, she was saying: ”Son! Would you let me sit, I am like your mother”. Therefore, he made her look at the wall and horribly insulted her. The guards searched us and their hands touched every area in our bodies. This search is just harassment. The guards asked us to take off any clothes we are wearing under the white pre-trial detention cloak. Additionally, the place isn’t well-hidden and it is very easy for the officers to see us. When it was the turn of our colleague Asma Mukhtar, a 19-year-old student at Ain Shams University, she objected to this humiliating search method, saying, “I am a girl and what you are doing is wrong”. She was beaten, bitten, and her hair was pulled by the guards. Each two of us were placed in a criminal ward, except me, who was placed alone in the toilet of a drug ward, exactly on a filthy floor surrounded by all types of insects and around 16 cats were hovering around me in a dark place. In addition to the beating, “the security officers banged our heads on the wall and kicked us”, which caused a few of them to bleed. When I entered the ward, I passed out and I was told later that they refused to transfer me to the hospital. The officer said “let her die inside”. She proceeds “I stayed inside the toilet for four days during which I went on a hunger strike. I also couldn’t sleep. So, I told Al Nabashi (the head of the cell) that I want to sleep for only half an hour. When the warden saw me, she insulted me. The day of visitation, I didn’t have any clothes. The criminal prisoners gave me theirs, which I wore under the transparent pre-trial clothes. I cried when I saw “Mom“. It was the first time that I did: I asked the officer to bring me back to the ward. He said “as you command Doctor Darin ”. When mom left, he told me “get pulled inside”. After four days, the warden took us to Mr. Mamdouh. He told us: we are able to do more than this, but we don’t want to assault you. The era of Abdel Nasser was full of oppression, yet the era of Abdel Nasser is back”.