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Egyptian President-elect Mohammed Mursi asked for issuance of the death certificate of an Egyptian considered a revolutionary icon, Khaled Said.
Said, a young activist is believed to have been brutally tortured and killed in Alexandria by police officers in June 2010. His death catapulted him to becoming the symbol of the January 25 uprising six months later.
Egypt’s new civilian president issued his request during his meeting with relatives of the revolution’s martyrs and those who were injured at the presidential palace on Tuesday.
Asked by Mursi what demands she had, Said’s mother urged, first and foremost, for a fair trial and the prosecution of those responsible of the murder of her son and other protesters.
She was quoted by the Arabic newspaper Al-Sharq al-Awsat as saying that President Mursi was surprised that her son’s death certificate had still not been issued, noting that the security authorities in charge of the matter, refused to fill the ‘cause of death’ required in the certificate, which halted the process.
Said’s family’s suffering reportedly did not end with his death. After facing dreadful rumors following his murder, the long road to justice appears to be strenuous even two years after the young man’s demise.
On his second death anniversary on June 6, Al-Ahram newspaper’s English edition reported that the young man’s “mother had to deal not only with the loss of her son but also with accusations that he was a drug addict. Initially the Egyptian police would not investigate his death.”
However, Mursi’s move on Tuesday has been as a step forward in Said’s case and reportedly assuaged some fears that activists and liberals had towards the Muslim Brotherhood candidate.
Activist Wael Ghoneim, known for the role he played during the January 25 revolution, and the admin of “We are all Khaled Said” page on Facebook said that despite his opposition to many of Mursi’s views, he still voted for him.
“Many people did vote for Mursi not because he is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood or the chairman of its political wing the Freedom and Justice Party, but because they did not want to opt for a member of the former regime,” Ghoneim said.
The Facebook page paid tribute to the Khaled Said on his second death anniversary:
“Thousands of Egyptian men and women are celebrating his life and remembering how he was beaten to death by the police. Khaled Said’s death was indeed one of the first sparks of the Egyptian revolution.”
Source: Alarabiya
