Egyptian police detain four men after video shows friend forced into car to play football

Egyptian police have detained four men after a video appeared to show them assaulting a young man and forcing him into a car before taking him away to play football.

The incident took place in Ismailia and attracted widespread attention after footage of the confrontation circulated on social media and was shared by media outlets, including Al Jazeera.

The video showed several people travelling in a private car and on two motorbikes. They were seen striking the young man and making him get into the car before leaving the area with him.

Egypt’s Ministry of Interior said no formal complaint had initially been filed about the incident. However, security officers traced the vehicle and both motorbikes shown in the footage and identified the people believed to have been involved.

Four men were subsequently summoned and questioned. The ministry said one of them had previous criminal information and that all four lived within the jurisdiction of the Third Ismailia Police Department.

When confronted with the video, the men admitted carrying out the incident. According to the ministry’s statement, they said it had taken place on 2 September and was intended as a prank involving one of their friends.

The men told investigators that they had taken the young man by force because they wanted him to go with them to play football. The episode was recorded on mobile phones, with the footage later spreading across social-media platforms.

Police also summoned the young man seen in the video. He was identified as unemployed, with criminal information, and living in the same area served by the Third Ismailia Police Department.

The young man supported the four men’s account of what happened, telling investigators that the incident had been carried out as a joke. He also said he had not been harmed during the events shown in the video.

The footage, which captured the moments when he was made to enter the car, was widely reposted online. One social-media caption described the incident as young men “kidnapping their friend in a car and forcing him to go and play football”, while also saying that security services had identified the vehicle and arrested those involved.

At the end of the investigation’s initial procedures, authorities said they had taken possession of the car and the two motorbikes. Legal action was also taken in relation to the incident.

The ministry’s account did not report any formal allegation of injury, and the young man’s statement that he had not been hurt was included in the police findings.