Egyptian government claims police were trying to help naked man The video of the man, Hamada Saber, 48, taken as protesters attacked the presidential palace in Cairo nearby, rocked Egypt and brought forth an apology and a promise of an investigation from the presidency. But late on Saturday Mohammed Ibrahim, the interior minister, issued a statement claiming the man had in fact been attacked by other protesters, despite the clear evidence of the video, and that the police were putting him in their van to rescue him. Mr Saber himself gave an interview to television from his bed in a police hospital, organised by the interior ministry's public relations department, saying the police had been trying to help him. His family claimed he had acted either under pressure from the police or in return for money and a job. In another interview, conducted by telephone, his daughter could be heard saying "Tell them you're lying, Dad!," to which he replied, "Be quiet or you're for it when we get home." To confuse matters, Mr Saber on Sunday night changed his account and admitted security forces had harmed him, saying he decided to tell the "truth" after his family "renounced" him. A new video emerged online of him telling activists that police apologised for any wrongdoing. A male and female are heard urging him to speak honestly. Later again, an interior ministry spokesman posted a statement on its official Facebook page dissociating himself from the whole incident. "Unfortunately we have lost our credibility because of the stupidity with which we turned a mistake into a disaster," he said. I apologise to all our followers for this comedy. The video, taken on Friday night, was widely seen as a catastrophic example of the gradual loss of control by the government of President Mohammed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood. The overthrow of ex-President Hosni Mubarak was supposed to have brought an end to widespread police abuses, but human rights groups have continued to document numerous cases of suspects being tortured and killed in custody.