Greg Palkot, the Fox News correspondent who along with cameraman Olaf Wiig was badly beaten in an attack on Wednesday in Cairo, wrote a firsthand account of the ordeal for FoxNews.com.
Palkot said the Egyptian army did not immediately come to their aid:
After several minutes of running a human gauntlet, Olaf and I reached an Egyptian Army personnel carrier. The soldiers standing on top didn’t immediately help us.
Also read: CBS News' Lara Logan Released From Egyptian Military Custody
As they stood by, Olaf and I continued to be pummeled by the crowd. His shirt was off, he was writhing and was knocked to the ground twice. I somehow stayed upright but was losing strength fast and the hits were harder. Unable to make it over the high side of the vehicle, I thought Olaf and I were finished. A few more minutes in the crowd and it would have been all over.
And, as The Wrap reported Thursday, Palkot and Wiig were accused of being Israeli spies by military personnel at the hospital:
Soon after we arrived at the hospital we had an armed soldier watching over us. The nervous authorities said it was for our own “safety,” but at times we felt like prisoners in the hospital.
Our calls and movement were limited, the door to our room was locked from time to time from the outside, my passport was taken and not returned. There was discussion of the possibility we could be spies.
Then when the hospital staff said we were good to go, we were still held by the authorities. We were jammed into the back of a small jeep, driven across town, held blindfolded at the Ministry of Military Security, marched lock-step to a location, then videotaped and photographed as if in a line-up.
We were later to learn other journalists were treated the same way.
Read Palkot’s entire account here.