Sameh Wahba
Tamer Ehab El Kharrat
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Interviewer: Sameh Wahba
Interviewee: Tamer Ehab El Kharrat
Date: 9th March, 2011
Place: The American University in
Cairo
JRMC 202-04
Dr. Kim Fox
Sameh Wahba
Tamer Ehab El Kharrat
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Sameh: I have with me Tamer Ehab El Kharrat and this is Sameh Wahba. Tamer is a, is a
friend of mine I know he’s…I know he went to the revolution, to the protests where he
participated and I just, I want to know a little bit about what you did and what happened to
you, if anything interesting happened to you.
Tamer: The first day I went on 28th I didn’t go on the 25th. I thought nothing would happen on
the 25th, so I went on the 28th to Shubra after the prayer and before starting to protest or
anything, the thugs came and they kept on shouting and cursing and they wanted to hit the
people and they told everyone to go away and stuff like that. So I was just standing with my
friends and then one of them came to me and asked me what I’m doing here. So I told him
nothing I’m just standing, what do you want? So then he kept on shouting what are you doing
here and go home and stuff like that. So I didn’t reply and then one thing led to another, I
found like six thugs around me, screaming and started hitting me. Then I found that there was
a store behind me, they opened the store and they wanted to push me inside the store and I
kept on pushing and my friends kept on pushing and they wanted, my friends wanted to get
me out of there and then the thugs kept on hitting me until they reached what they wanted and
they put me inside this store and then they closed the store behind me. And they kept on
talking and screaming and shouting and cursing and then I didn’t respond or anything, one
thing led to another after hitting me and shouting and stuff like that, they told me, alright, you
look like a, a nice guy and you’re, you’ve got nothing to do with this, so we’ll let you go, but
don’t worry were just going to make this place safe for you, so wait for a while. So I waited
and then they got this microbus and they told me get in there, were just going to get you out
of here. Don’t worry, nothing will happen and stuff like that. I didn’t want to go in, but they
kept on insisting, so I went into the microbus and then I found myself at the, at prison in
Rhode El Farag. I didn’t understand what’s happening, I asked the thugs they kept on
Sameh Wahba
Tamer Ehab El Kharrat
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shouting and cursing again. I went in this prison, it wasn’t that bad, it was a good prison.
Ceramic, and it wasn’t, I don’t think it’s, it’s the real thing, I think it’s temporary or
something like that. I waited for a while and then people kept coming in, injured people and
stuff like that. We kept on helping each other, talking about how we got in here. There was
tap water, so we washed the, the wounds and stuff like that. And then I stayed there like for
four hours or something like that. And then suddenly the police came and they let us out one
by one. As soon as I went out, I wanted to go to, to Tahrir and so I went with the protests
again and stuff like that. I found, it was very hard, because there was a lot of tear bombs and
the, the police were still there pushing people, preventing them from going to Tahrir. I had
no, I had no option, I had to go to Tahrir because everything else was closed and, so it’s
either stay in the streets or go to Tahrir and obviously I wanted to go. That day there were no
mobiles, so I was like in a hard situation. I called my parents; I tried to call them from any
place. It took me a while, they got worried. And then we kept on going until, until we went to
Tahrir. The amazing thing about it is that I saw the policemen backing off while I’m standing,
while we were telling them, we wanted them to go in front of us. We wanted them to be with
the, with the people. So we kept on shouting “oddamna, oddamna” and then they…
Sameh: which means?
Tamer: “In front of us, in front of us”. And then they didn’t respond but soon they just broke
and ran away. Soon everyone took their equipment, took their, their shields and stuff like
that. It was pretty amazing to see something like that. That’s for the twenty…I saw a lot of
thing, things on the 28th that may be interesting. I saw people fighting over guns. I saw, I saw
police running, I saw police, people hitting them and getting their clothes off.
Sameh: What do you mean fighting over guns? Fighting over the police’s guns?
Sameh Wahba
Tamer Ehab El Kharrat
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Tamer: yeah, I saw two people with the gun, fighting over the gun and people…
Sameh: civilians?
Tamer: Yeah, civilians. So that was pretty scary, it was too hectic, chaos by all means.
Sameh: Just to clarify here, how long did you stay in the, in the store? And what kind of store
was it? And how did they get you in? Did they like push you in or what?
Tamer: Yeah, yeah they were trying to hit me to push me in the store. And I was thinking if I
go into the store it’s the end. I don’t want to go into the store. So I kept on resisting and they
kept on hitting me to push me in the store. And soon they got me in. it was a normal store like
any store in Shubra yeah. I don’t remember what it had in it, like, but there was a lady at the
store and she kept on screaming and giving me water on my face and stuff like that. I stayed
in the store for like 30 minutes, if not less. They, they just kept on screaming and cussing and
I didn’t respond. But I just told them, where I’m from, where I study, stuff like that. And
that’s it. And then they took me to the prison for about four hours.
Sameh: Ok, where, where are you from? Where do you study? Like which area of residence
do you live in?
Tamer: I live in Dokki, Giza. I study psychology at Anglia Ruskin, which is in England. But I
stay at, by correspondents.
Sameh: And, when, when, when you first went, were your parents worried? Like did, did they
just let you out easily? Or was it, was it a fight to go down and…
Tamer: No, my parents, my father is a, is always a revolutionist. He went down himself on
the 28th, my sister went down, my brother went down, we all went down every day. My sister
and mother went down on the 25th. So, so I’m, I'm lucky, I’m lucky to have parents like these
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Tamer Ehab El Kharrat
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because they, they went down, so they of course let me to go. They were scared. My mother
was scared and she kept on telling me a lot of things about not going. Not going, to, near
certain places and stuff like that. But no, they weren’t scared.
Sameh: And, when, when, when you went down on the 28th, were you with your parents? Or
were you with friends or were you alone?
Tamer: I was with my parents, not in the incidence itself, but I was with my friends, my
parents were in Shubra, but we decided to, when we went down, we decided to, to divide, so
they weren’t at the incidence itself. But I saw my father, he, he saw me, and then after the
story I knew that my mother was there and she came and stuff like that.
Sameh: Alright, and…
Tamer: I saw my brother in the fight.
Sameh: In the fight?
Tamer: Yeah.
Sameh: What happened?
Tamer: No, no he was just trying to pull me and stuff like that. I saw him pulling me, but
nothing happened to him.
Sameh: They just took you away?
Tamer: Yeah, I don’t know why. They thought that like I was something of, of the political
young people. And then when they, I think, when they got my name and saw that I have
nothing to do with it, that I’m not in a political party or I have nothing to do with the groups,
and I didn’t organize anything, I think they let me go.
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Tamer Ehab El Kharrat
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Sameh: Alright, just once more to clarify, when you left, when they got you out of the store,
they convinced you to get into the van, did their attitude change, were they, they weren’t
cussing anymore, they weren’t pushing? They were just convincing?
Tamer: Yeah, they were trying to tell me that everything will be ok. And you seem like a nice
guy and don’t worry; we’re going to get you out of here because it’s unsafe for you here and
stuff like that. I didn’t believe them, but they, but I had no option. I kept telling them I don’t
want to go in and they told me, we can’t leave you here, we can’t get in here, we don’t want
any hassle or chaos. Just get in the van.
Sameh: But they were the same people that were pushing and…
Tamer: Yeah, yeah.
Sameh: Alright, can you tell me just a few of, like what you felt when you were inside the
store and what you felt when you were inside the van and what you felt when you were in
prison and, and later on. Just give me some of your feelings. What was running through your
head, what you thought was going to happen and just all of that, briefly, like tell me what
happened in every stage, what you were feeling in every stage you were in.
Tamer: In the store I was frustrated. I felt that I was violated, I didn’t understand, how they
can do something like that. I was angry. I didn’t like that they hit me, I didn’t like, I didn’t
like how they talked. I thought they were stupid. I didn’t know who they were. In the van, I
just wanted my, I was frustrated because I didn’t have my identity, my ID; they took it from
me, my ID card. And I didn’t have my car keys, so I kept on fighting with the guy, I want my
car keys and he just kept on telling me you’ll get them, you’ll get them. In prison, as soon as I
went in, I thought I was going to stay for days, two days or something like that. I thought I'm
going to spend the night, so I was ready for that. I was frustrated in prison, because I didn’t
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Tamer Ehab El Kharrat
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understand. I was just standing, I didn’t do anything wrong, so it didn’t make sense to me.
But I was excited to see what will happen along the day. It was an experience.
Sameh: You were excited to see what was going to happen?
Tamer: Yeah, like, I knew that, one way or another that, that they, I don’t know, I, I, I knew
that I won’t, that it won’t get any worse, I don’t know why. I was just…and a friend came in
with me in prison. So we kept on talking and soon we kept talking about our visits to Italy
and to Austria and just chatted and we just thought that we’re going to stay there for like, for
the next day.
Sameh: Oh, so you, so you found people that you knew in…
Tamer: Yeah, a friend.
Sameh: How many people were there?
Tamer: We were first three and then…
Sameh: But you were one of the first people to get there?
Tamer: Yeah, and then we came like, like one more, which was a funny guy. He came and he
kept on joking and stuff like that. And then like four…we ended up like being 20 or
something like that. It was pretty crowded and a lot of cigarettes and stuff like that. It was
weird. Yes, but mostly, other than the 28th, I enjoyed the revolution after that, in Tahrir.
Sameh: Oh, so after, after you got, after you got locked up in prison, you went again?
Tamer: Yeah, I went, 28th was a Friday. I went from Tuesday every day. Tuesday he, the
president gave his second speech, when he talked about, when he talked about, that he won’t
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Tamer Ehab El Kharrat
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re-elect himself and stuff like that. I went every day since that. It was pretty nice, to go to
Tahrir and with a lot of people and I had a lot inside of me. It was a great experience.
Sameh: Was it, was it different the next few days?
Tamer: Ah, of course, not even the same faces. Like I remember the faces of, of Friday.
People are like aggressive and, and they, guys, all of them guys and like, different class, like
people you see in fights and stuff like that. Or maybe these were the people on the spot
because these are the people that took us in. Other than that, the other days, you see a lot of
like higher class people or educated people, you see girls you see old people. You see young
people, but not the aggressive kind of people. Not the people you would see in a fight.
Sameh: And, you said you tried to contact your parents after you got out of prison. How?
There was no network coverage?
Tamer: Yeah, there were no network coverage. There wasn’t a, and I think there wasn’t a
landline in that place, I don’t know how. I tried to contact them for like an hour after I went
out, and then I finally reached them.
Sameh: How did you reach them? And what were their feelings about what had happened?
Tamer: They had a, they had an office in Shubra, my dad’s office. So my objective was to go
to that office. I went to the office. And with my luck, I found the, the guys there. They gave
me the landline. I kept on calling, no one answered. I went down and then came up again. I
kept on doing that for a while. And then at last they answered. I told them everything is OK.
And then we agreed, he told me, he asked me what I'm going to do now. And we planned the,
the plan. Like I told him I’ll go down and every 45 minutes I’ll contact you and stuff like
that. And it didn’t take a while. After I reached them it took only like one hour and then I was
in Tahrir and everything was done and then I went home and that’s it.
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Tamer Ehab El Kharrat
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Sameh: Tell me, when you first went, did you have any flags or any banners or anything of
the sort? Or were you just chanting or what, what did you go down with?
Tamer: On the 28th or after?
Sameh: Yes on the 28th.
Tamer: On the 28th, no banner or anything, on the 28th you couldn’t go with banners. If you
go, like, like me and my friends we had to divide so they don’t know we were going to the
protests. Because the police men were still there, so we were still scared of the police. We
were still under the political power of them…but after, after that, after the police went and the
army came in and in Tahrir, yeah we went. I’m a Christian and, and people thought
Christians weren’t there. So I wrote on my t-shirt: I’m a Christian, I’m Egyptian and No for
Mubarak. So, I found that a lot of people came to me and, and, and said to me welcome and
said to me we thought Christians weren’t here, so it was a message, because Christians, they
didn’t, weren’t seen in the picture. And I saw a lot of Christians after wearing that t-shirt, so
it was exciting. And then the day after we went, me and five of my friends wearing the same
t-shirts. I’m Egyptian; I’m Christian, No for Mubarak.
Sameh: Just the last question, because we’re out of time. If this would all happen again,
would you do it again? If time would go back, would you do that again?
Tamer: Yes of course, I would love that I’d have a bigger role in it, I’m ashamed that I didn’t,
I wasn’t part of organizing, or I wasn’t part of the bigger picture, that I didn’t know of it. So,
my role was participating, if it happened again, I want to be more of an organizer there.
Sameh: Alright, just the last question, I'm sorry, I should have asked this at the beginning.
How old are you? Just so we can get…
Sameh Wahba
Tamer Ehab El Kharrat
Tamer: 20 years.
Same h: Twenty, alright, thank you so much Tamer for your time
Tamer: Thank you
Sameh: I appreciate it
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