Arrested activist assaulted while in custody, video footage shows

Video footage of an activist arrested at Friday night’s demonstration shows him being assaulted while in custody.

The footage shows Hussain ‘Shiftu’ Shifau being placed inside a police van and him being kept there until two individuals, not in police uniform, enter the van and proceed to assault him.

At about the ‘1:12’ mark, police clearly allow two men to climb mount the vehicle and look on as one of them grabs Shifau by either his throat or the collar of his shirt and the other helps.

Officers, all clad in riot gear, allow these men to shove and push Shifau for about seven seconds before intervening and gently separating them from him.

Prior to them mounting the vehicle, the two individuals are seen speaking to the police. A number of individuals responding to the footage on social media claim that they are official associates of the police.

The individuals are then seen casually waiting alongside the officers as they subdue the activist. In the footage of him being arrested, Shifau is clearly distressed and his shirt is torn.

Shifau’s spouse posted a tweet confirming his release, where she also said that 14 officers of the police had continued to assault her husband while escorting him to detention.

Shifau’s injuries and treatment is mild in comparison to some of the incidents during altercations with police that demonstrators have recounted.

An activist has had to fly to India to seek treatment for a broken arm and another is in a coma, after having been subject copious amounts of pepper spray.

Demonstrators claim that police routinely use excessive for is dispersing crowds that have been gathering nightly.

Journalists have also been injured and violently arrested, with RaajjeTV’s Hussain Hassan having to be taken to Sri Lanka after being assaulted while in police custody.