The U.S. journalist who was brutally beaten and sexually assaulted by Egyptian riot police as she covered the Tahrir Square protests has posted a photo online which shows both her arms in plaster.
New York-based Mona Eltahawy, 44, tweeted the picture, which shows casts on her broken left arm and right hand, to demonstrate the 'brutality' of Egyptian police.
She claimed they hit her with large sticks, groped her breasts and tried to push their hands down her trousers - before detaining her for 12 hours with 'no real reason'.
Scroll down to hear Eltahawy's interview...
Broken and battered: Mona Tahawy was detained for 12 hours, without reason, by brutal Egyptian police
The American-Egyptian said: 'I am speaking out to shame them for what they did. As I was being assaulted it was as if I was set on by a bunch of beasts.
'This is not the Egypt we love and not what the revolution is about. The reason we are having this revolution is to stop that kind of brutality, and they (the military) will not hijack our revolution.'
She is not the only one to have been sexually assaulted, as France 3 TV reporter Caroline Sinz has also said she too was abused while covering the anti-military protests with her cameraman in Tahir Square.
Eltahawy, also an activist and acclaimed public speaker, chronicled in live time on Twitter how she was arrested and beaten.
She wrote: 'Military intelligence blindfolded me for 2 hrs. Didn't want 2 go with them but 1 said I either go politely or else. 3 hrs later, 5 or 6 surrounded me, groped and prodded my breasts, grabbed my genital area and I lost count how many hands tried to get into my trousers.'
Bruised and beaten: Mona Eltahawy, is seen with both arms in casts after being released by Egyptian security forces in Cairo yesterday
After being arrested at approximately 4am local time on Thursday she borrowed another activist's phone to send one chilling tweet from inside the Ministry: 'Beaten arrested in interior ministry.'
Speaking to CNN last night, she said: 'Right now I have my left arm is broken and my right hand is broken. This is as a result of a brutal beating by the Egyptian riot police who surrounded me.
'I was taking pictures and covering events on the front line, between the confrontation between protesters, police and military.
'A group of riot police surrounded me, they beat me, rained their sticks down on my arms and that's why they broke because I was trying to protect myself.
'They also sexually assaulted me. I was groped all over my body, I lost count of the number of hands that tried to get into my trousers.
'They dragged me to the Ministry of the Interior by the hair, called me all kind of insults. It all hapened in about seven or eight minutes, and that was the crescendo of it all.
'But then I ended up spending between 10 to 12 hours in detention, first by the ministry of the interior and then by military intelligence.
'It was an awful night, but what happened to me is just a taste of what happens to so many Egyptians. The brutality of Egyptian security forces has long been documented and I experienced just a bit of it.
Rallying call: Protesters hold their national flag and shout slogans against the ruling military council as they take part in protests today in Tahrir Square
Peace: A man flashes the V-sign for victory during the Friday noon prayer in Cairo's Tahrihr square today
'And I know that because I am a journalist, and because I am Egyptian American and have dual citizenship, and because they think I'm a 'professional, respectable person; they probably gave me lighter treatment.
'I know that had I been an Egyptian with fewer privileges I would have fared much worse.'
She added: 'I was just there and they caught me. If I look back now I was the only woman at that particular time on the front line.
'They did not explain why they took me in and then I spent five or six hours trying to get out.
'They claimed they were keeping me because I did not have my passport or ID on me, because I left it in Tahrir Square as I didn't want to leave it on the front line.
'They kept dragging their feet until I refused to answer questions any more. I said I was a civilian and did not to answer questions.'
Port Said-born Ms Eltahawy, who was awarded the EU's Samir Kassir Prize for Freedom of the Press in 2009, writes columns for Canada's Toronto Star, Israel's The Jerusalem Report and Denmark's Politiken.
Her articles have also appeared in a host of international newspapers and network sites, including the Washington Post, International Herald Tribune and CNN.
France 3 TV reporter Caroline Sinz has also described her assault, and said: 'We were . . . assaulted by a crowd of men. I was beaten by a group of youngsters and adults who tore my clothes.'
She said she was molested in a way that 'would be considered rape', saying: 'Some people tried to help me, but failed. I was lynched. It lasted three-quarters of an hour before I was taken out.'
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