Egyptians Get Look Inside Secret Police Files
The New York Times reports:
CAIRO — The files have started flowing out of Egypt’s dreaded state security headquarters, part of the post-uprising rush to excavate some of the state’s darkest corners.
There are lists of informants from inside the Muslim Brotherhood and the names of judges who helped rig local elections. Even for young activists who knew they were being monitored, the level of detail has been sobering: one found a picture of herself at a party; another discovered transcripts of text messages exchanged with her husband; a third leafed through a biography of his famous grandfather, a former Brotherhood leader.
“It was overwhelming,” said Salma Said, 26, who was part of a mob that stormed the headquarters on Saturday night, seeking to preserve incriminating documents that they were sure the security agents were destroying.
Rifling through shelves neatly stacked with files in an underground archive, Ms. Said came across seven party photos lifted off a friend’s camera, which showed her and her husband seated at a table full of beer bottles.
“It was unbelievable to be in this room full of files and see a photograph of me and my husband on a friend’s balcony,” she said.
For many, storming the bastion of the secret police was cathartic.
After visiting the cell where he had been imprisoned, Hossam el-Hamalawy, an activist, wrote on his Twitter feed that he could not stop crying. Another online video gleefully documented the luxurious suite belonging to Habib el-Adly, the now-imprisoned interior minister, including his-and-her cream and pink bathrobes in his private bedroom.
Like so many other milestones, the sacking of the security headquarters has left Egyptians both exhilarated and apprehensive about where the country is heading.
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