News reporters have identified and tracked down the Egyptian woman in the red hooded jacket, who heroically stepped in when she saw the Egyptian soldiers attacking the blue bra Egyptian protester.
She is Azza Suleiman. She is a 48-year old woman, and a daughter of an Egyptian general (her father has passed on). She was interviewed by Arab journalists, who passed the information on to CNN. But CNN was, at first, unable to interview her themselves because by the time they showed up, her condition had worsened. She was seen by CNN reporters to be in great pain.
The wounds that she sustained in the beating was shown (and taped by) to the Arab journalists - pretty serious looking. Azza had taken some severe hits to her head!
The next day, CNN was able to interview Azza. Check out what Azza has to say about her treatment at the hands of the Egyptian military, and what she (as a daughter of a general in the military) has to say in the second video.
Azza Suleiman
CNN First Video Report on the Egyptian Woman in Red Hooded Jacket
CNN Second Video: Egyptian woman beaten by police speaks out
Thank God she survived. I wish her a speedy recovery!
Woman in Red Hooded Jacket Stands Up To Egyptian Soldiers Brutally Beating an Unarmed Woman, and Gets Beaten Herself!
The Internet is all ablaze with the image of an Egyptian female protester (wearing a hijab) being beaten brutally by the Egyptian military with batons, and kicked and dragged, until her hijab and top came off, exposing her mid-riff and the blue bra.
This image symbolized the brutality of the December 17 2011 crackdown by the Egyptian military on the unarmed protesters.
A video of the above incident (see below), as well as other horrifying scenes of Egyptian soldiers running after and firing gunshots into the fleeing unarmed crowd, and burning the tents in Tahrir Square, has been circulating on the Internet.
More Shocking Details Revealed in the Video of the Dec 17 Protest: Heroine Red Hooded Jacket Woman Stands Up To Egyptian Military and Gets Hit in the Head
But a careful review of this video show other disturbing scenes of military brutality. It also reveals a brave act from an ordinary Egyptian woman who dared to stand up to the brutal attack on the unarmed woman that she witnessed. And she did it at her own personal risk, and suffered for it too. We highlight this incident (taken from the video), in case people have missed out on seeing it. This woman (seen in a red hooded jacket and black pants) deserve accolades for her brave act.
1) We see at 0.39 sec of the video (right hand side) a man dressed in a white long-sleeved shirt and a woman in a red hooded jacket, along with a young girl in long jalabiya and hijab walking past the scene where the Egyptian soldiers are attacking the blue bra woman protester with batons. They turn their heads to the scene of the attack.
2) At 0.49 the woman in the red hooded jacket stop in her tracks and looks to where the woman protester is being attacked while the man in the white shirt appears to gesture her to move along. He then grabs her hand and pulls her away. Meanwhile, a soldier waves his baton threateningly at the two of them, and the man in the white shirt indicates through hand gestures that they were walking away.
3) At 1.23 we see the same woman in the red hooded jacket appear back in the video. She is seen appealing to the Egyptian soldiers to stop attacking the woman on the ground. Video shifts away from this scene.
4) At 1.44, we see the advancing Egyptian military. One of the soldiers knock over the woman in the red hooded jacket, and she falls over the feet of the blue bra woman. The man in white shirt is also knocked down. Both are beaten brutally with the batons. The red hooded jacket woman is kicked in her head many times. And then soldiers hit her the head with the baton. She then becomes motionless. The man in white is similarly kicked and hit in the head with batons. At 2.10 the video shifts to another scene.
5) At 2.37, the video goes back the the scene. We now see the red hooded jacket woman and the white-shirted man lying motionless on the ground. The blue bra protester is not there. Soldiers are seen lifting the woman, and dropping her back to the ground. The video ends here.
This is a highly distressing scene. It is unknown if the woman in the red jacket survived the attacks. Is she dead or alive?
However, one thing is certain. This woman is a heroine!
She could have walked away from the scene fearing for her personal safety, as undoubtedly many others did. And in fact, her husband (or companion) in the whitehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif shirt did gesture and pull her away from the scene.
But she was concerned enough to go back to the scene, and stand up to the soldiers attacking the unarmed girl.
The result is that she herself (and the white shirted man) was attacked senselessly.
This red hooded jacket woman is a symbol of all the brave Egyptian women out there. A true Egyptian heroine.
UPDATE(Dec. 24, 2011): The woman has been identified as Azza Suleiman, and she has survived the brutal attacks. She is still in hospital recovering from two serious fractures to her skull.
Identity of the Red Jacket Revealed
