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| From Piggipedia |
Police General Muhammad Refaat Qomsan, is a former State Security Police officer and a close aid to SS General Ahmad Raafat who was in charge of the Islamists’ file at the dissolved apparatus.
Earlier in his career, Qomsan, who hails from the province of Minya, played a central role in the 1990s crackdowns on the Muslim Brothers, including the 1992 “Salsabeel Case” that targeted the Brothers’ financial assets, and later in the arrest of their activists in the professional syndicates. Qomsan also took part in the 1996 crackdown on rockers and metal heads, fabricating charges of “satanism” against them.
More importantly, Qomsan was later promoted by General Habib el-Adly, to become the director of the interior ministry’s “Department of Electoral Affairs”, which supervised the rigging of the elections of the lower and upper houses from 2005 to 2010. Qomsan reportedly has a brother by the name Mostafa, who is a Colonel at the Assiut Security Directorate, where he faces corruption allegations.
After the revolution, you’d expect Qomsan to face justice in a public trial for his crimes. Oh, well, he was rewarded another promotion last March by General Mansour el-Essawi, the “revolutionary” interior minister. Not only did Qomsan get to keep his position as the director of the Department of Electoral Affairs, but he was also given an additional department to lead, the ministry’s Department of Administrative Affairs.
The message the military council and Essam Sharaf’s cabinet are sending is clear: SS torturers and police officials who have been the backbone of the Mubarak’s dictatorship are here to stay.
